Bitcoin Nears $77,000; Analysts Warn of Short Squeeze

Bitcoin traded near $77,000 on Thursday as analysts forecast a 5% or greater breakout and flagged a possible short squeeze after significant short liquidations and tight price clustering between $76,500 and $78,000. Market data showed leveraged positions concentrated at those levels and a recent drop in open interest.

Recent trading feeds showed Bitcoin confined to a narrow range, with liquidity stacked close to the current spot. Trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote, “Some big clusters right around price. Most notably: the ~$78K area and the $76.5K-$77K area in the short term,” and added he expected “some larger 5%+ move to occur here soon again.”

Analytics platforms reported that short positions suffered the bulk of losses over the prior 24 hours, consistent with forced covering by bearish traders. An analytics account commented, “Bears on $BTC are getting SQUEEZED in real-time,” and recorded open interest declining by more than 12,000 contracts as prices rose.

The same analytics account identified $74,000 as a key level and argued that shorting or hedging spot holdings at current levels did not align with the technical structure.

WTI crude traded back above $100 per barrel amid renewed tensions involving the United States and Iran, and reports about uranium enrichment and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz added to market uncertainty. Traders noted that changes in U.S. Treasury yields could influence demand for risk assets; trader Michaël Van de Poppe wrote that lower yields would likely lift risk-on assets.

Market participants pointed to clustered liquidity, concentrated leveraged bets and falling open interest as factors that can make short positions vulnerable: a modest directional move can trigger outsized liquidations. Markets recorded sharp short losses during the previous 24 hours.

Bitcoin has shown sensitivity to macro signals and liquidity flows since its rise earlier in the year. Traders who monitor order books and open interest use clusters of stop orders and large leveraged positions near round-number levels as markers of where squeezes may occur when those levels are tested.