Crypto Shorts Get Rekt as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Rise to Weekly High Prices

Major cryptocurrencies are broadly in the green Thursday with Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other top coins showing gains as crypto liquidations climb—with short positions making up the majority of the carnage.

Bitcoin topped the $62,000 mark Thursday morning for the first time in more than a week, rebounding to $62,078 after falling to a 21-month low under $58,000 earlier in the week. At a recent price of $61,808, Bitcoin is up about 3% on the day and 4% in the last week.

Other major cryptocurrencies are showing similar gains, with Ethereum and Solana both up nearly 5% on the day, hitting recent prices of $1,701 and $81 respectively. Solana is the biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the last week, rising more than 22% during that span. XRP is up more than 3% on the day at a recent price of $1.09.

Crypto liquidations have surged to $602 million over the last 24 hours, per data from CoinGlass, with Ethereum flipping Bitcoin to become the biggest contributor with $187 million in liquidations compared to $184 million for BTC. Overall, short liquidations make up $400 million of the pile.

The bullish rebound comes following comments Wednesday from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, who declined to say whether the agency planned rate hikes later this year. As of this writing, interest rate traders foresee roughly even odds of the Fed either holding rates steady or raising them at its September meeting, though they project a 64% chance of some kind of rate hike by the FOMC’s October meeting, per CME’s FedWatch.

On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers reported adding significantly fewer jobs in June than expected—57,000 vs. a target of 115,000, down from a revised figure of 129,000 jobs added in May.

Stocks are mixed following the news, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both down for the day, but the Dow still green, per Yahoo Finance.

Major crypto stocks are showing gains on the day, with Strategy (MSTR) up nearly 7% to $100 per share—after falling to nearly $80 last week—while Coinbase (COIN) is up 3.35% to $165 and USDC stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) has gained almost 5% to $65.