Bitcoin held closer to the $40,000 mark on Dec. 3 after weekend gains reinforced a “strong” uptrend.

Bitcoin leaves $60 million in shorts hanging

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a fresh BTC price surge, which took BTC/USD to new 2023 highs of $39,730.

These built on upward momentum, which had entered days prior, as Bitcoin hit $39,000 for the first time since mid-2022.

With derivatives leading into the end of the Wall Street trading week, commentators had argued that spot buyers needed to step up to maintain momentum. Events ultimately took an unexpected turn, with a snap surge across Bitcoin and altcoins wiping previous resistance.

In part of coverage on X (formerly Twitter), popular trader Skew suggested that “someone just ran all shorts across the board seemingly on most pairs.”

This in turn placed BTC price behavior around the weekly open in question — CME Bitcoin futures closed the week at $39,225, leaving a gap between there and spot price, which would normally be “filled” via a dip.

Analyzing the status quo, however, fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades predicted that this time would be different.

“Whenever $BTC is in a strong trend (up or down) and especially when it's trading at yearly highs or price discovery. You tend to have these weekend moves that break out and leave a lot of people behind. Often creating a gap that never gets closed or not until weeks later,” part of an X post explained.

“During strong trending environments, trading the CME price doesn't have a very strong edge anymore. It's amazing during sideways chop but not like this.”

Daan Crypto Trades agreed that the area around the Friday closing price had offered an opportunity to “trap” shorters.

“Due to me thinking it was pretty likely to see a big move occur during the weekend, I did not share the usual CME chart. So far the suspicion was correct and people trying to short this move would have been rekt,” he wrote.

Data from statistics resource CoinGlass showed around $30 million in BTC shorts liquidated on both Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.

BTC price in "all-the-way-UP mode"

With $40,000 in sight, meanwhile, market participants turned their attention to bullish signals on longer timeframes.

For popular Twitter commentator Alan Tardigrade, BTC/USD was well out of a downward channel in place since its November 2021 all-time high of $69,000.

“Bitcoin has entered All-the-way-UP mode,” he commented on a chart showing how recent BTC price action had decisively exited the trend.

Fellow commentator BitQuant, known for his bullish takes on Bitcoin in the current environment, eyed a return to the highs before “some correction” could take hold.

Both perspectives channeled behavior from previous Bitcoin bull markets.

In September, BitQuant made the bold prediction of BTC/USD beating its record highs before the next block subsidy halving in April 2024 — just four months away.