Crypto short liquidations pass $3B as Bitcoin nears $72K

The scale of forced short covering, rather than fresh demand, is doing much of the work here, which makes this a positioning story as much as a price one. When liquidations of this size drive the move, the rally is partly self-feeding: each squeeze pulls in the next wave of buyers, but it also leaves the market more one-sided once the fuel runs out. The open question is whether spot demand keeps arriving after the forced buying fades, or whether the move simply front-loaded its own momentum.