Bitcoin broke through a wall of sell orders near $85,000 on Friday, triggering over $120 million in short liquidations as it touched its highest level since late September. The rally coincided with a $2.3 billion jump in futures open interest and rising funding rates, while ETF inflows stayed well below last month's record pace.
Bitcoin broke through a cluster of sell orders near $85,000 on Friday, climbing to $86,857 — its highest level since Sept. 23 — before pulling back below $86,000. The breakout triggered $122 million in BTC short liquidations over 24 hours. The cross-crypto total reached $210 million.
Order-book wall clears, liquidations cluster above $87,000
A concentration of sell orders around $85,000 had kept Bitcoin's price rangebound through the week, according to Glassnode data. Once buyers broke through, Glassnode said on X that the remaining sell orders had been cleared, adding: According to Glassnode: "With reduced ask liquidity above, this should allow price to move up faster".
CoinGlass data showed a cluster of potential liquidations forming above $87,000 following the breakout. Earlier in the week, more than $30 million in sell orders had appeared around $85,700.
Leverage builds as open interest jumps $2.3 billion
Open interest on bitcoin futures and perpetuals climbed to about 653,000 BTC, or $56.2 billion, up from 626,000 BTC on Sept. 30, according to CoinGlass data cited by CoinDesk. That is a gain of roughly 27,000 BTC worth $2.3 billion, coming off a base near 625,000 BTC that was approximately at its lowest level in 12 months at the end of September. Over the same stretch, the funding rate on perpetual contracts rose from around 3% to 10%, pointing to stronger demand for bullish exposure — though it also raises the cost of holding long positions and can leave leveraged traders more vulnerable to a reversal.
Crypto-linked equities moved higher alongside bitcoin. Strategy and Strive each gained around 3% in premarket trading. Coinbase and Robinhood rose approximately 2%.
ETF inflows still below September's record pace
The $86,000 area marks the aggregate breakeven zone for investors in the US spot Bitcoin ETFs, Glassnode said in its newsletter, The Week Onchain, adding that a sustained breakout with higher volume and renewed ETF inflows would confirm broader support for the uptrend. Daily inflows have cooled since Sept. 21, when the daily tally hit its highest in almost a year at $999 million.
On Oct. 1, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $102.7 million, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock's IBIT fund alone attracted $195 million, as outflows from several other funds reduced the daily total.
Sources: Cointelegraph.com News, CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data
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