Bitcoin blew past $87,000, reaching its highest price point since late January and catching an entire class of short sellers off guard in the process.

The move represented a roughly 5-6% jump from a prior close around $81,000-$81,200, fueled by a cascade of forced liquidations that turned a modest rally into something significantly more violent.

More than $300 million in short positions were liquidated in a single hour during the surge. Over the full 24-hour window, total liquidations across the crypto market stretched somewhere between $576 million and $800 million.

Bitcoin reached intraday highs near $86,300-$86,344 before continuing to climb through the $87,000 level. The move also pushed BTC back above the average cost basis for US…