Bitcoin buyers broke through a wall of sell orders to push the price toward $87,000 on Friday, with short sellers losing more than $120 million in the process. The move marked Bitcoin’s highest level since Sept. 23. A concentration of sell orders around $85,000 had kept the price rangebound through the week, but buyers finally broke through that barrier. The area immediately above now acts as a new resistance hurdle.
Buyers Break Through Sell Orders
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $86,857 on Bitstamp before pulling back below $86,000. That peak represented the highest price since Sept. 23. The move followed fresh fluctuations in exchange order-book liquidity.
Glassnode, an onchain analytics platform, tracked the concentration of sell orders around $85,000 that had been holding the price down. “With reduced ask liquidity above, this should allow price to move up faster,” Glassnode wrote on X, adding that the remaining sell orders “seem to have been removed.” The BTC/USDT order-book heatmap on Binance showed the distribution of buy and sell orders at the time of the breakout. CoinGlass’s heatmap also showed a cluster of potential liquidations above $87,300 following the initial move, suggesting that liquidation exposure was concentrating at higher price levels.
Liquidations Top $120 Million
BTC short liquidations over the 24 hours to the time of writing totaled $122 million, with the cross-crypto total at $210 million. The liquidations clustered above $87,300, which means the short sellers who got caught had positions that were closed at prices higher than where they entered. For the buyers, that meant they were stepping in at prices that had already been tested and found wanting by the sellers.
ETF Inflows Cool After Record Day
The area around $86,000 remains significant. It forms the aggregate breakeven zone for investors in the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Daily flows have cooled since Sept. 21, when the daily tally hit its highest in almost a year at $999 million.
“The funds are still buying, but at a small fraction of the pace of those two days. A return to inflows near that pace would be the clearest sign of renewed ETF demand,” Glassnode wrote. On Oct. 1, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $102.7 million, according to Farside Investors. The largest fund, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), attracted $195 million, with outflows from several other funds reducing the daily tally.
The Numbers
| Metric | Value | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| BTC price high | $86,857 | Sept. 23 |
| Short liquidations | $122 million | 24 hours |
| Cross-crypto total | $210 million | 24 hours |
| ETF inflows (record) | $999 million | Sept. 21 |
| ETF inflows (Oct. 1) | $102.7 million | Daily |
The numbers paint a picture of a market that has shifted decisively in favor of buyers. The $122 million in liquidations over 24 hours represents real money lost by traders who bet wrong — and it shows how quickly a market can turn against those betting on a fall.
The Resistance Test Ahead
The area above $87,000 is now a new resistance hurdle. The CoinGlass heatmap showed a cluster of potential liquidations there, meaning any further upward move could trigger more forced selling from traders whose positions are underwater.
Glassnode’s newsletter, The Week Onchain, said a sustained breakout accompanied by higher trading volume and renewed ETF inflows would confirm broader support for Bitcoin’s uptrend. The ETF inflows have cooled significantly since Sept. 21. Whether they return to the near-$1 billion pace of that record day will be the clearest signal of renewed demand, according to Glassnode.
The Pattern So Far
The pattern this week has been consistent:
- Sell orders concentrated around $85,000 held the price rangebound.
- Buyers eventually broke through that wall.
- Short liquidations followed, topping $122 million over 24 hours.
- The price reached its highest since Sept. 23 at $86,857.
- The area above $87,000 became the new resistance hurdle.
Each step reinforced the last. The sell orders provided the friction that made the breakout feel earned rather than sudden. The liquidations confirmed that the sellers who had been defending those levels had been forced to capitulate.
What Comes Next
The immediate test is the resistance above $87,000. Whether buyers can push through it will determine whether the recent gains hold or reverse.
Whether the ETF inflows return to the record pace of Sept. 21 will be the key indicator of broader support. Glassnode’s framing — that a return to inflows near that pace would be the clearest sign of renewed ETF demand — gives a clear target for the coming days.
The buyers who pushed through the wall of sell orders at $85,000 have shown they can move the price. The question now is whether they can keep moving it, and whether the ETF demand continues at a meaningful pace.
For traders watching the market, the lesson is simple: resistance is not permanent. The buyers proved that today, and the short sellers paid the price.
Source material: “Bitcoin reaches for $87K as short liquidations top $120M,” Cointelegraph.
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