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- Bitcoin jumped more than 12% to $35,000 Tuesday, its highest level since May 2022.
- Bearish crypto traders have lost roughly $178 million over the last 24 hours, a CoinDesk report showed.
- Speculation around approval of a spot bitcoin ETF has fueled a rally across bitcoin, ether, and other tokens.
Bitcoin jumped as high as $35,200 on Tuesday, catching bearish crypto traders by surprise with a CoinDesk report showing $178 million in losses over the past 24 hours.
The world's largest crypto by market capitalization had surged more than 12% Tuesday on speculation for the potential approval for an exchange-traded fund based on the spot price.
After hitting its highest level since May 2022, bitcoin later pared some gains to trade around $34,440 by midday in New York.
CoinGlass data illustrated that Monday saw $400 million of crypto liquidations, with around half of that coming from bitcoin-tracked futures. A liquidation takes place when a partial or complete loss of margin leads to an exchange closing out a trader's leveraged position.
In effect, bitcoin's rally meant many traders could not maintain the margin requirements on leveraged bets.
Binance, Huobi, and OKX each saw liquidations of $50 million, CoinDesk reported, which implies a large amount of leveraged bets on those platforms.
Optimism has percolated for several weeks in the digital asset space, with financial mainstays like BlackRock, Fidelity, and VanEck submitting applications to launch spot bitcoin ETFs.
GrayScale Investment, meanwhile, notched a recent legal victory against the Securities and Exchange Commission's attempt to prevent it from converting its bitcoin trust into a spot ETF product.
And on Monday, Bloomberg Intelligence flagged that the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation website listed an "iShares Bitcoin Trust."
Bitcoin has climbed 28% in October, and is up more than 107% in 2023.