Bitcoin's push above $65,000 caught one of DeFi's most-watched short positions in a partial liquidation, with on-chain data showing 360 BTC worth $23.36 million forcibly closed from the wallet tagged 0x8c96.
The position entered the move as a 1,800 BTC short with roughly $117 million in notional exposure. After the liquidation, 1,440 BTC and $93.3 million in short exposure remain open. The new liquidation price sits at $65,041.72—a threshold BTC has already touched and, as of this writing, is trading near.
Bitcoin is at $64,732 in live markets, up 1.3 percent over 24 hours. That puts the remaining position less than $310 above its liquidation trigger. Any sustained bid through $65,041.72 forces another round of position closure on 0x8c96's book.
The wallet has drawn sustained attention across on-chain tracking communities for holding a directional short of this size through a period of rising prices. A 1,800 BTC short at $117 million represents an average entry around $65,000 per coin—meaning the trade was already underwater on the initial break higher, which triggered the first partial liquidation.
The mechanics are standard for leveraged perpetual or margin positions on-chain: as price moves against a short, the margin buffer erodes. When the margin-to-position ratio falls below the exchange's maintenance threshold, the protocol liquidates enough of the position to bring the account back to a safe margin level—or closes it entirely if the buffer is gone. In this case, 360 BTC was liquidated to reduce exposure, lowering the notional size and resetting the liquidation price to $65,041.72 on the surviving 1,440 BTC.
The partial liquidation did not close the position—it compressed it. That structure creates a self-reinforcing risk: if BTC prints above $65,041.72 with enough momentum, the remaining short gets hit again, which itself removes selling pressure and can push prices higher. Forced short covering is a recognized driver of sharp upward moves in crypto markets, particularly when a single large position is publicly tracked on-chain.
Broader liquidation data adds context to the scale of short positioning heading into this move. In a prior 24-hour window, more than $800 million in total positions were liquidated across crypto markets, with more than $650 million of that coming from shorts. The 0x8c96 event is one piece of a market-wide squeeze on bearish positioning.
Bitcoin had been consolidating above $64,500 in the sessions before the break, with intraday dips finding support at that level. The $65,000 level functioned as a short-term resistance zone, which is precisely why a large short position set its liquidation trigger there. When price cleared it, the forced buying from liquidations added fuel to the move rather than dampening it.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index reads 41—Fear territory—despite the upward price action. That disconnect between sentiment and price is common during short-squeeze-driven moves, where price rises not because new buyers are rushing in but because short sellers are being forced out. Whether organic demand follows is a separate question the source material does not answer.
What the on-chain record shows is that 0x8c96 still carries $93.3 million in short exposure with a liquidation price the market has already visited once today. The next several hours of BTC price action directly determine whether the remainder of that position survives.
