Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) traders betting on falling prices took the heavier losses in the latest round of crypto liquidations, as the two largest cryptocurrencies held steady ahead of today’s US inflation report. The shift reverses the pattern seen earlier this week, when traders betting on rising prices absorbed most of the damage.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Liquidations: Shorts Take the Lead
A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because the trader’s margin, the collateral posted to keep the trade open, can no longer cover losses. A short position is a bet that the price will fall, while a long position is a bet that it will rise.
Bitcoin recorded $32.50 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data, a crypto derivatives data platform. Short positions accounted for 78.3% of that total, or about $25.45 million, while long positions made up about $7.05 million.
Ethereum saw $26.36 million in liquidations over the same period. Shorts made up 59.8%, or about $15.76 million, and longs accounted for about $10.60 million.
Across the broader crypto market, total liquidations reached $154.32 million, comprising $73.93 million in longs and $80.38 million in shorts. Shorts therefore represented about 52% of market-wide liquidations. The largest single liquidation order was a $3.95 million Bitcoin short on Binance’s BTCUSDT pair, which trades Bitcoin against Tether (USDT), a US dollar-pegged stablecoin.
BTC Price and ETH Price Today
Bitcoin traded at $83,554 at about 06:00 UTC on October 14, according to CoinGecko, and little changed over 24 hours. It moved between $82,919 and $84,074 during that period and remains about 33.7% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,080.
Ethereum traded at $2,502, down about 1% over 24 hours, within a range of $2,487 to $2,535.
Why the Shift From Long to Short Liquidations Matters
The short-heavy reading contrasts with October 12 and 13, when Bitcoin briefly fell below $82,000 and long positions absorbed most of the liquidations. The Crypto Times reported that CoinGlass recorded $193.5 million in Bitcoin liquidations in the 24 hours ending around 06:03 UTC on October 13, with longs accounting for about 74% of the total.
When a large share of leveraged long positions has already been cleared, fewer bullish bets remain to be forced out on a further decline. That can leave the market more sensitive to upward moves, because liquidated short sellers must buy back the asset to close their positions. Liquidation data alone, however, does not confirm the direction of the next move.
The earlier selling came alongside weakness in Asian equities, including a sharp decline in South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index, and uneven flows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Leverage remains significant. Open interest in Bitcoin perpetual futures, the total value of outstanding contracts that have no expiry date, stood at about $66.94 billion, according to CoinGecko.
US CPI Data Today: What Traders Are Watching
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is scheduled to release the September CPI report today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), which is 12:30 UTC. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change in prices that urban consumers pay for a basket of goods and services, and it is the most closely watched US inflation gauge.
Headline CPI rose 3.4% year-over-year (YoY) in August, while core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 2.4%. For September, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s inflation nowcast pointed in early October to headline inflation of about 3.6% and core inflation near 2.4%. Economists’ consensus forecasts, outlined in The Crypto Times’ CPI preview, place headline CPI at 3.6% to 3.7% and core CPI at 2.5%. Forecasters attribute much of the expected rise in headline inflation to higher energy prices.
The report lands two weeks before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting body, meets on October 27 and 28. A reading above forecasts could strengthen expectations of tighter monetary policy, which has historically weighed on risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. A softer reading could ease those expectations.
Saylor Says Bitcoin Has Bottomed
Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of Strategy Inc., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on October 13 that Bitcoin bottomed slightly below $60,000 and has entered a new bull market. Speaking at DC Fintech Week, Saylor said Bitcoin “should definitely move back into the six figures beyond $100,000,” citing favorable US regulation and growing adoption by banks.
Strategy is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with 848,250 BTC on its balance sheet, giving the company a direct financial interest in the asset’s price.
Ethereum Developers Meet on October 15
Ethereum developers will hold All Core Devs Consensus (ACDC) call #189 on October 15 at 14:00 UTC. ACDC calls are regular public meetings where Ethereum’s consensus layer client teams coordinate protocol changes. The agenda covers Glamsterdam, Ethereum’s next planned network upgrade, and Hegotá, the upgrade scheduled to follow it.
Such calls are not usually an immediate price catalyst, but decisions on upgrade timing and scope can shape medium-term sentiment around the network.
Bitcoin Price Outlook: What Comes Next
Traders are watching whether Bitcoin can hold above the $82,000 area tested earlier this week and clear the $84,000 level reached in the past 24 hours. With leveraged positions still open on both sides of the market, price swings around the CPI release could trigger further liquidations in either direction.
Also Read: Ethereum Wallet Loses $22.7K in EIP-7702 Delegation Attack
