The engine, restated
A squeeze happens when dealers are net short gamma above spot: price rising forces them to BUY into strength, amplifying the move that forces more buying. In crypto the precondition is rarer than folklore suggests — crypto gamma is smaller relative to spot turnover, so the options engine alone moves the tape less than equity intuition expects.
The second accelerant
What crypto adds is the perp stack: a rising tape liquidates shorts, forced buying that behaves exactly like dealer chasing without any options at all. When BOTH run — a short-gamma pocket above spot and crowded perp shorts underneath — the flows compound, and the move that results looks like the squeezes of legend. Most crypto “gamma squeezes” are mostly the liquidation half wearing the options story.
Attribution matters for what comes next
A liquidation-driven pop exhausts when the shorts are gone — often within hours. A genuine short-gamma chase persists while spot sits in the pocket. The map tells them apart: check gamma by strike above spot against the liquidation tape’s size.
Reading it
Squeeze setups are readable in advance: negative-gamma territory, strikes stacked overhead, funding showing crowded shorts. When all three align, size the possibility; when only the liquidation half exists, expect the pop to end where the leverage does.