Bitcoin’s surge to $77K pressures shorts, but absent spot and long leverage caps rallies

Bitcoin traded around $77K after bulls pushed prices up to roughly $77,400, but repeated profit-taking and thin spot/long-leverage volume have capped breakouts. Orderbook data shows more than $130 million in asks from $76,700–$79,300, while futures metrics (negative funding and a small -$1.47M long-short delta) give bulls a modest short-term edge. Large short-liquidity clusters near $76,800 (negative delta between -$66.5M and -$189M) create squeeze risk, yet rallies lack staying power without a volume spike in spot or perp markets. Technically, $75,000 is acting as support after an SR flip and BTC sits back above the 20-day MA ($76,067); key resistances are the channel trendline at $79,000 and the $80,000 level that would need confirmation as support to sustain a larger advance. Overall, price action favors the bears in structure, but transient bullish squeezes remain possible until sustained spot demand and leverage emerge.