Bitcoin’s rally accelerated on 22 August, sending the largest cryptocurrency above $116,000 and briefly touching $117,000—its strongest level in almost two months. The abrupt climb triggered a burst of forced closures, with data providers estimating roughly $250 million of short positions liquidated across major exchanges within four hours. The upswing spilled into Ethereum, which advanced toward $5,000 and erased about $476 million in bearish bets over the weekend. Derivatives trackers calculated that as much as $2.2 billion in additional Ethereum shorts could be vulnerable if the token breaks decisively above the $5,000 threshold. Momentum reversed late on 24 August. Bitcoin slid by nearly $6,000 in minutes to an intraday low around $110,800 before stabilising near $111,000 on 25 August. The downturn set off one of the largest liquidation cascades in weeks: more than $803 million in leveraged crypto positions were wiped out in the 24-hour period, according to CoinGlass figures cited by CryptoSlate. Longs bore the brunt of the shake-out, accounting for about $642 million of the total. Bitcoin positions were hit for roughly $268 million and Ethereum for $263 million, underscoring the concentration of speculative leverage in the two largest digital assets. The whipsaw price action highlights the growing influence of highly leveraged derivatives on crypto-market volatility.