Bitcoin’s $87,400 Rally Cleared Out Shorts—Now Longs Hold the Bigger Risk

Bitcoin’s run toward $87,400 did more than lift the market to an eight-month high. It cleared out a major layer of bearish leverage that had been sitting above the price for much of the past year.

That helped the rally accelerate. Short sellers caught on the wrong side had to buy Bitcoin back as the price climbed, adding forced demand to an already strong move.

Now the setup has changed. The largest remaining leverage concentrations are no longer shorts waiting overhead.

They are long positions sitting below the market, where a pullback could turn them into forced sellers.

That shift was the central finding in a new analysis from CryptoSlate. The report found that Bitcoin remains in a broadly bullish structure, but the fuel behind the advance is becoming less dependable just as more holders have profits available to take.

The distinction matters. A market can remain bullish while becoming more vulnerable to a sharp reset.

Bitcoin does not need to be at a cycle top for crowded long positions to create a painful air pocket.

Bitcoin’s latest rally to $87K was enough to wipe out the main short positions built across the market over the past 365 days.

When filtering for the largest clusters of leveraged positions, it becomes clear how price tends to move toward these liquidity zones.

Recently, we… pic.twitter.com/fvXGYMOGCI

— Alphractal (@Alphractal) September 29, 2026

Alphractal said the move to roughly $87,000 was enough to wipe out the main short positions accumulated across the market over the prior 365 days. Those liquidations mattered because every forced short exit required buying into the rally.

Once those positions are gone, however, they cannot provide the same forced-buying support a second time. The analytics firm says the biggest unliquidated clusters now sit on the long side.

If Bitcoin keeps rising, that change may remain a footnote. If it falls into those liquidity zones, leveraged longs can be liquidated into weakness and deepen the decline.

The derivatives picture is only one part of the concern. CryptoSlate’s summary of CryptoQuant data said apparent spot demand contracted by about 170,000 BTC over the past 30 days.

Growth in futures demand reportedly fell to roughly 16,000 BTC from 164,000 BTC on September 14.

Open interest has also declined, which removes some speculative excess. But spot participation remains subdued: the reported spot-to-futures volume ratio on Binance was about 0.12, meaning derivatives still account for roughly nine out of every ten dollars in the combined volume measure.

Lower open interest can make a market healthier by reducing the fuel available for cascading liquidations.

But the remaining demand still needs to absorb selling from holders who are increasingly far into profit.

Short-term traders’ unrealized profit margin reached 33%, according to the report, its highest level since December 2024. Holders also realized profits on 25,700 BTC on September 22, the largest one-day total of 2026 in the cited data.

In plain English, fewer fresh buyers are doing the heavy lifting while more existing owners have a reason to take money off the table.

Bitcoin sentiment has hit its greediest reading since July 2025. 😬 pic.twitter.com/YyYlPC7MMn

— Look Into Bitcoin (@LookInto_BTC) September 29, 2026

Look Into Bitcoin added another warning sign: its sentiment reading reached the greediest level since July 2025. Strong sentiment can persist during a powerful rally, but it leaves less room for disappointment when demand begins to fade.

The first major test sits near $80,000, where Bitcoin’s 365-day moving average is located. That was the long-term threshold reclaimed as the new bullish phase took shape.

A controlled pullback that holds that area would show the market can absorb profit-taking without depending on another short squeeze. Losing it would expose deeper support and increase the chance that the long positions now clustered below price become the next liquidation engine.

The broader trend is still intact. The risk is that the character of the rally has changed: forced buyers helped carry Bitcoin up, while forced sellers may now be waiting underneath it.

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