Bitcoin Shorts Get Crushed Above ₱4,092,750 ($70,000) on ETF Inflows

K33 Research Head Vetle Lunde saw it coming. Bitcoin entered the previous weekend heavily oversold, heavily shorted, and significantly underowned, he said.

The squeeze came fast. Bitcoin gained over 7% to break above $71,000, marking its highest level in almost a month. Binance's taker buy-sell ratio hit 1.18, the highest reading of the year, as aggressive buyers overwhelmed sellers. Taker buy volume exceeded ₱58.47 billion ($1 billion) per hour several times in a single day, pushing the price through resistance.

Binance's BTCUSDT perpetual contract saw notional open interest jump by 7,547 BTC over four hours, the first growth of that size since 2023. Lunde noted similar funding-rate regimes have often appeared during bottoming phases, reflecting crowding, imbalances, and signs of seller exhaustion. Traders had paid premiums to sit short throughout February, leaving the market vulnerable to a violent move higher once institutional buyers returned.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs flipped from bloodbath to buying spree, with cumulative inflows exceeding ₱93.55 billion ($1.6 billion) over five days across the last six trading sessions. Notional CME open interest had fallen 30% from October levels as institutions trimmed exposure, but the reversal in ETF flows signaled a shift in positioning.

Bitcoin had fallen 50% after five consecutive months of downside price action. Its weekly relative strength index dropped to its third-lowest reading ever before the bounce. K33 Research said if ETF inflows continue and derivatives buyers maintain the upper hand, a short-term reaction higher would not be surprising.