The Bitcoin price is currently just 3% away from its all-time high (ATH) of $73,750. However, if it continues its current bullish momentum and posts a new ATH above $74,300, it would trigger the liquidation of nearly $1.45 billion in short positions.

According to data from CoinGlass, the number of long-leveraged positions is considerably higher than that of short-leveraged positions.

Shorting Bitcoin (BTC) involves borrowing BTC and selling it, expecting the price to decline. The trader aims to buy back the Bitcoin at a lower price, repay the loan and profit from the price difference.

In addition to the potential future price movements and their effect on short sellers, the price momentum over the past 24 hours has caused the liquidation of nearly $328 million in leveraged positions. Of this total, $64 million were long positions, while $264 million were short positions.

Bitcoin has followed a sideways price action, trading in the $60,000 to $65,000 range for nearly a month since the block subsidy halving in April.

However, the price has increased by over 5% in the past few days, surpassing the $70,000 mark on Monday, May 20, to reach a new multiweek high. Within 24 hours, the top cryptocurrency was trading above $72,000.

Related: Bitcoin price hits $70K as spot and BTC ETF buying surges

The recent bullish price momentum is attributed to several factors, including increasing investor confidence, decreasing exchange supply and inflows into United States-base spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after nearly two weeks of net outflows.

On May 20, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw positive inflows totaling $235 million. ARK Invest led the way with the largest net inflow, adding over 1,000 BTC. BlackRock followed closely with an inflow of 965 BTC. Meanwhile, the Grayscale ETF, which had been experiencing weeks of outflows, recorded an inflow of 140 BTC, marking its fourth consecutive day of positive inflows.

The current bullish price action for BTC also helped it post new highs in various countries,including Japan, Singapore and Argentina.

Magazine: What do crypto market makers actually do? Liquidity, or manipulation

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Bitcoin shorts worth $1.4B at risk of liquidation if BTC price hits $74.3K - Cointelegraph