Bitcoin (btc) It rose more than $71,000 early Tuesday, its highest level since early April, as Ethereum rose more than 19% to $3,700 after Bloomberg analysts raised the possibility of an Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) getting approval in the US to 75%.
Other major coins had relatively smaller gains, with XRP, Cardano’s ADA, Solana’s Solana, and dogecoin (DOGE) rising between 3-6%, according to CoinGecko data.
The spike caused market-wide short liquidations of more than $260 million, the largest since February 28. Ether short trades lost more than $115 million, followed by Bitcoin short trades with just over $99 million, Coinglass data shows.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance recorded over $130 million in liquidations, the largest among its peers, followed by OKX with $118 million and Huobi with $51 million.
Shorts are bets against higher price movements. Liquidation refers to the exchange forcibly closing a leveraged trader’s position due to partial or total loss of the trader’s initial margin. This occurs when a trader is unable to meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position (failing to obtain sufficient funds to keep the trade open).
Markets began to rally late Monday, with Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyfart raising the odds of a spot Ethereum ETF to 75% from 20% early. Later, CoinDesk reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked aspiring ETF exchanges to update their 19b-4 filings before a key deadline this week.
Meanwhile, some traders expect Ether prices to rise further in the coming days.
“Our view is that this situation is unlikely to stabilize here, with approval taking us closer to 4K and rejection back to 3K,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a broadcast on Tuesday. “Exchanges are being asked to update their 19b-4 filings on an expedited basis, indicating that approval is imminent.”
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