Bitcoin vs Altcoins: Massive Liquidation Gap Emerges After ETF Launch

key Insights

• Bitcoin outperforms altcoins

• Altseason is highly unlikely and BTC dominance will widen

Since the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF, there’s been a noticeable shift in how traders are positioning themselves in the crypto market. According to Cryptoquant's analyst and Alphractal founder Joao Wedson, this shift is highly notable between Bitcoin and altcoins.

Chart illustrating the Binance Cumulative Liquidation Delta (CLD) for Bitcoin, showcasing the correlation between long and short liquidations and Bitcoin's price movements from early 2024 to mid-2025.

Bitcoin and Altcoins are moving in very different directions when it comes to liquidations. On one side, Bitcoin is seeing short sellers get squeezed. On the other, Altcoin traders mostly bullish are getting wiped out. This tells us something important: traders’ expectations are not matching the actual market moves.

How Bitcoin and Altcoins are Behaving

On Binance, data shows that short liquidations beat long liquidations by $190 million. This means that people betting against Bitcoin's price rise have been forced to buy back at higher prices, pushing BTC even higher. This is a classic short squeeze.

Also Read: 30k BTC leave exchanges

In contrast, Altcoins saw $1 billion more in long liquidations than shorts. That’s a big red flag for traders who were expecting  “Altseason”. These traders went long, expecting gains, but got liquidated instead as prices dropped.

Graph illustrating the Binance Cumulative Liquidation Delta (CLD) for altcoins from January 2024 to May 2025, highlighting long and short liquidations against Bitcoin's price changes. The green area signifies long liquidations, while the red indicates short liquidations, reflecting market trends and volatility in the cryptocurrency landscape.

This trend has been growing since December 2024. Bitcoin has been on a relatively strong uptrend since the ETF approval. Altcoins, however, have failed to follow and have kept declining. Right now the market clearly favors Bitcoin. The ETF brought in institutional interest and real money, pushing BTC higher and making it a safer bet in the eyes of many investors.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crypto market, especially highly leveraged altcoins, has been punished hard.

What It Means for Crypto Investors

Graph depicting Binance's cumulative Bitcoin liquidations from January 2024 to May 2025, highlighting the trends in long (green) versus short (red) positions alongside the fluctuating BTC price.

Bitcoin Bulls Got It Right in the recent cycle. Thus as Crypto investors who have been eyeing a bull rally have enjoyed significant gains. Short sellers underestimated Bitcoin’s strength and got liquidated. However, altcoin Bulls Took Heavy Losses with traders betting on a quick rebound in altcoins got hit hard. The long liquidation wave suggests that there was too much optimism, and not enough follow-through in price.

The green area represents increasing cumulative long liquidations, while the brown area illustrates cumulative short liquidations. Bitcoin's price trend is overlaid, indicating a generally upward trajectory amid volatility.

In conclusion, this liquidation asymmetry between Bitcoin and Altcoins is an important signal. It shows that BTC is currently leading the market, while Altcoins remain in a riskier, more uncertain zone.

This situation shows that it's not a wise approach to keep chasing altcoin season. Therefore, it's critical to understand where real momentum and institutional confidence are going and right now, that’s clearly Bitcoin.