HBAR bears take charge after Open Interest’s surge signals shorts’ dominance

• HBAR’s Open Interest soared to a 6-months high as the market heated up
• Long liquidations exploded after HBAR reverted to its consolidation zone

Hedera’s native cryptocurrency HBAR just recorded its biggest surge in Open Interest since May. Interestingly, its price action suggested that the surge may have mostly been driven by short sellers.

HBAR Futures Open Interest surged to 61.11 million on 13 November after a strong build-up since 5 November.  This was the highest level the cryptocurrency’s Open Interest surged to since 21 May. Binance led the surge in Open Interest on exchanges with almost $20 million.

A look at HBAR’s price action revealed that the Open Interest build-up was mostly bullish initially. However, it shifted somewhere along the way, with the cryptocurrency already on a bearish trend by the time the Open Interest peaked.

A botched HBAR rally?

HBAR was off to a bullish start earlier this month just like most of the top cryptocurrencies. It rallied by 83.73% from 5 November to 12 November, and peaked at $0.077. However, demand appears to have been crushed soon after, judging by the massive pullback which seemed to have been a bull trap.

HBAR pulled back by as much as 26% from Tuesday’s high to its lowest price on Wednesday. The pullback was noteworthy because it closed within its short-term resistance range – An indication that the cryptocurrency was not yet ready for a major bullish recovery.

Here, it’s worth noting that HBAR was also overbought at the time of the pullback. The pullback highlighted how a surge in bullish expectations in the hopes of a consolidation zone breakout resulted in a bull trap.

In fact, liquidations data suggested that a short squeeze may have occurred first with roughly $539,000 worth of shorts liquidated on 12 November. However, the pullback from this week’s peak led to over $886,000 worth of long liquidations.

HBAR’s liquidations on 12 November were the highest that we have seen in the last 6 months. Liquidations also spilled over into 13 November with over $620,000 worth of longs liquidated.

Hence, the question – Does HBAR still have upside potential? Well, the latest outcome may have resulted in leveraged positions being liquidated while potentially discouraging some buyers. However, the cryptocurrency may still be attractive considering its hefty discount.

HBAR’s press time price traded at a 66% discount from its highest price in 2024. The cryptocurrency enjoyed a strong bullish run in the first half of the year which peaked in April. All things considered, the performance confirmed that investors are still interested in the cryptocurrency.