Wipe Out — Fake SEC Approval Report Erases $71M in Bitcoin Short Positions

In the wake of fabricated news asserting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) green-lit Blackrock’s Ishares spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, short positions worth $78.92 million were cleared out. This sum represented 57% of the overall $136.29 million in short positions erased in the last 24 hours.

Misleading Report on SEC Decision Shakes Bitcoin Market, Erasing Millions in Short Bets

On Monday, the crypto-focused media outlet Cointelegraph disseminated false information via social media platform X and its Telegram channel, triggering a more than 10% spike in bitcoin (BTC) value against the U.S. dollar.

The digital currency briefly touched $29,900 per coin before plunging to $28,100 per unit once the news was debunked. Cointelegraph, despite issuing an apology, was too late to prevent the market upheaval that resulted in the obliteration of $78.92 million worth of short positions.

Data from Coinglass reveals that in the past four hours, BTC short positions accounted for $71.36 million of the liquidated shorts. Around $2.49 million in Solana (SOL) short positions were also liquidated, among others.

The $78.92 million represented a staggering 57% of the day’s total short positions liquidated in the last 24 hours. In the same four-hour timeframe, long positions in Ethereum (ETH) exceeding $18 million were also liquidated.

Following the exposure of the counterfeit news, short positions on Bitfinex dropped drastically. Concurrently, long positions on Bitfinex saw a surge before the false news was confirmed, but have since declined.

The fallacious news event led to a significant number of traders being liquidated, potentially deflating the speculation surrounding the actual decision. The most substantial liquidations came from BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, and SOL.