Amazon rumours lead to $1 billion in crypto 'shorts' getting liquidated

Data from market tool Bybt shows nearly $1 billion worth of ‘short’ traders—individuals betting on a market decline—were liquidated this morning, with $750 million of that amount coming from Bitcoin trades alone.

It came on the back of crypto circles sharing an uncanny development on social media: That of global online marketplace Amazon ‘definitely’ accepting Bitcoin at the end of this year, followed by the addition of Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Cardano next year.

Amazon is rumored to start accepting #Bitcoin payments and they plan to launch their own token next year

This is fucking huge (if true)https://t.co/cONbAly1BI

— LilMoonLambo (@LilMoonLambo) July 25, 2021

Is Amazon accepting crypto?

“Ethereum, Cardano, and Bitcoin Cash will be next in line before they bring about eight of the most popular cryptocurrencies online. It won’t take long because the plans are already there, and they have been working on them since 2019,” news publication CityAM quoted the ‘insider’ saying.

The news, however, remains unsubstantiated. An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider that the firm was ‘inspired’ by the innovation happening in the crypto space but didn’t comment on the matter of crypto integrations on the platform.

Amazon’s job postings, however, saw the newly added position of an ‘experienced product leader’ to develop the company’s “Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.”

“You will leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities,” the posting read.

Bybit apes and Bitcoin shorts

Despite the development being unconfirmed, crypto traders reacted in a big way, with Bitcoin jumping 11% on Monday morning and Chainlink, Cardano, and Dogecoin all showing mid-double-digit gains.

Those betting against the market saw pain. Bybt’s liquidation data shows nearly $962 million worth of ‘shorts’ were liquidated as of press time, with $750 million of that coming from Bitcoin trades alone.

Futures powerhouse Bybit saw nearly $382 million in short-side liquidations, followed by Huobi at $200 million, OKEx at $188 million, and Binance at $88 million.

Futures markets for Bitcoin on Binance saw a temporary price wick to as much as $48,000, arguably liquidating thousands of traders who may have posted their stop losses much higher than current prices.

Just woke up…

So what exactly happened here? $BTC #Binance pic.twitter.com/spT1ynVaRT

— Nyuu (@NyuuRoe) July 26, 2021

The short liquidations reached the second-highest level this year, a few tens of millions below May 2021’s short-side carnage (which saw $1 billion in ‘short’ liquidations, but a staggering $7 billion in ‘long’ liquidations).

Over 98,000 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, Bybt noted, with the single largest liquidation order occurring on Huobi, a Bitcoin trader valued at $29.3 million. For many, it was just another day in the crypto market.