The number of bullish bitcoin bets raised with borrowed funds continue to rise on Bitfinex, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges.
The so-called margin-long positions have risen to around 72,700 BTC, the highest since February 2024, according to data source TradingView. The figure has risen from around 55,000 BTC since October, indicating a sustained dip buying operation throughout the price drop to $89,000 from over $126,000. At one point in November, prices hit a low of nearly $80,000 on some exchanges.
The build-up in long exposure highlights confidence among traders even as bitcoin is on course for three consecutive monthly declines, a pattern not seen since mid-2022, during the bear market.
Interestingly, the number of bullish ‘margin long’ bets on Bitfinex has historically been a contrarian indicator for the market. These positions typically peak when the market is struggling and then dry out just as a new uptrend begins to take hold.
In previous cycles, a sustained decline in margin longs has coincided with market bottoms or the early stages of an upswing. This pattern was strikingly evident during the unwinding of the yen carry trade in August 2024, when bitcoin bottomed out at around $49,000, coinciding with a sharp reduction in leveraged bets.
A similar dynamic played out during the April 2025 tariff-driven sell-off; as prices fell towards $75,000, the decline in margin lengths once again signaled that the weakest hands had been shaken out, setting the stage for a subsequent bounce.
So far, the continued increase in leverage suggests that BTC prices have yet to find a bottom.
