Bitcoin gained 22.6% over seven days, its largest advance over any seven-day window since November 2024, after the president told crypto executives at the White House that Congress needs to pass market structure legislation.
Bitcoin rose to its highest level in three months on Friday, capping a three-day rally that lifted every major token and broke a seven-week range, after President Donald Trump pressed the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act at a White House meeting with crypto executives on Wednesday.
The Senate has a date. Cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 is scheduled to ripen Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 2:15 p.m., according to the Senate Democratic leadership's floor schedule. The bill needs 60 votes to advance, and traders had pushed the odds of passage into 2027 earlier this month after Majority Leader John Thune skipped an earlier cloture filing. The Securities and Exchange Commission's token offering proposal on Tuesday and the president's remarks a day later put a legislative calendar back into the market.
Bitcoin last changed hands at $76,977, up 6.4% over 24 hours and 22.6% over seven days, after trading between $72,500 and $79,320, CoinGecko data shows. Ether was at $2,420, up 4.2% on the day and 28.8% on the week. XRP added 11.3% to $1.37 and 36.7% over seven days; Solana rose 4.4% to $91.02 and 21.5% on the week; BNB gained 4% to $672. Total crypto market value stood at $2.6 trillion, up 2.2% over 24 hours, on $157.9 billion of volume, with bitcoin dominance at 59.2%.
Biggest Week In Twenty-One MonthsBitcoin's seven-day gain is its largest since the week to Nov. 12, 2024, when it rose 26.9% in the days after the U.S. presidential election, based on daily Coinbase closing prices. No rolling seven-day window between that week and Thursday produced a gain above 15.1%.
The advance takes bitcoin to its highest close since May 25, when it settled at $77,249. Friday's intraday high of $79,320 was the highest since May 15. Bitcoin had traded between roughly $59,000 and $67,000 for seven weeks before Wednesday's break.
Ether's 28.8% week is its strongest since August 2025 and puts it at its highest level since April 17. XRP's 36.7% gain is its largest weekly move since January 2025. Solana's 21.5% is its biggest since October 2025.
The rally leaves both majors far below their records. Bitcoin is 38.9% under the $126,080 it reached in October 2025. Ether is 51.1% below the $4,946 it hit in August 2025.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index read 72, or greed, on Friday, against 29 — fear — on Aug. 14, according to Alternative.me. The index crossed out of fear on Thursday.
Trump Wants A Fair VersionTrump hosted SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig and executives including Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, Kraken's Arjun Sethi, Robinhood's Vlad Tenev, Chainlink Labs' Sergey Nazarov and Gemini's Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss at the White House on Wednesday. The White House published video of the remarks without a written transcript or readout.
"So, now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the CLARITY Act — a fair version of the CLARITY Act, and this landmark structure legislation," Trump said, according to the event transcript. He called it "a very, very powerful, structured legislation which will keep us ahead of China."
Armstrong put a number on the target at the same event: "if we all come together, I think we can get this bill over the finish line and hopefully get more than 60 votes come September 15th."
The text awaiting a floor vote is Chairman Tim Scott's substitute, not the version the House passed in 2025. Senate Banking reported H.R. 3633 with a strike-and-insert amendment on June 1 after approving it 15-9 in May, and Democratic objections have not been resolved. The Defiant covered the seven-Democrat math when the bill reached the floor calendar in June.
Atkins told Trump at the meeting that Tuesday's rulemaking "is consonant with our belief that the most important priority is for Congress to send the CLARITY Act to your desk for your signature, and the SEC is doing everything we can to support that work." In his written statement on the proposal, he argued that legislation "remains indispensable to enacting 'future-proofed' rules of the road that are durable enough to protect the work we are undertaking today from being unwound by a future rogue regulator."
The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on Tuesday, creating exemptions for token offerings of up to $5 million over four years and up to $75 million per 12-month period, plus a conditional safe harbor that removes the "investment contract" label once an issuer completes its promised managerial efforts. The Defiant covered the proposal here.
Selig's CFTC held the first meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on Thursday. In prepared remarks, he said staff have been directed to explore rules allowing spot and leveraged crypto trading on CFTC-registered venues, and asserted exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets against state restrictions. Trump said at Wednesday's meeting that Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid onshore "in a fully compliant and legal fashion," which The Defiant reported.
Longs Are Not Paying UpPerpetual funding rates stayed close to zero through the entire move. OKX's BTC-USDT swap paid 0.0100% on Friday with a premium of -0.00039, meaning the perpetual traded below index; the ETH swap showed the same rate and a premium of -0.00025. On Deribit, eight-hour funding was 0.0030% for bitcoin and 0.0046% for ether, with current funding at zero for both.
Bitcoin gained 22.6% in a week without traders bidding up the cost of long exposure. Shorts closing out and spot fund buying carried the move.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $517.2 million on Wednesday and $606.3 million on Thursday, the largest daily intake since May 1, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $503 million of Thursday's total. The two days follow $297.5 million on Monday and $189.3 million on Tuesday. Spot ether ETFs took in $186.8 million on Wednesday; Thursday's figure is incomplete, with BlackRock and Bitwise yet to report.
Coinglass recorded roughly $3 billion of leveraged positions closing over 24 hours around Wednesday's break, more than 90% of them shorts, and a further $1.24 billion in the 24 hours to Friday morning with shorts at $1.06 billion. The firm publishes one liquidation order per second and Binance restricted its liquidation reporting in 2021, so the totals understate actual volumes. Open interest on OKX stood at $2.30 billion for the bitcoin swap and $1.43 billion for ether; Deribit's bitcoin perpetual held $921 million and its ether perpetual $284 million.
Bonds Bid, Fed HawkishThe rally started in the bond market. Treasury said Wednesday it will at least double the size of its buybacks in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year nominal sectors, to at least $4 billion per operation from $2 billion, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. The 30-year yield had closed at 5.31% on Monday, its highest since June 2007, and fell to 5.19% on Wednesday before backing up to 5.23% Thursday, Treasury data shows. The two-year held at 4.19% throughout, confining the move to the long end. The Defiant covered the buyback expansion on Wednesday.
Crypto rallied against a hawkish Federal Reserve. Minutes of the July 28-29 meeting, released Wednesday afternoon, show Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase, and that "many participants assessed that policy tightening would likely be necessary if inflation did not decline." July CPI, published Aug. 12, put headline inflation at 3.4% over 12 months against core at 2.5%.
Chair Kevin Warsh speaks at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole symposium on Aug. 27-29, his first as chair. Equities lagged crypto: the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 7,681 on Friday afternoon.
Ethena Warehouses A BillionTokenPrice24h7dBitcoin Cash (BCH)$281.23+28.3%+39.9%Ethena (ENA)$0.1390+26.5%+64.0%Curve DAO (CRV)$0.3262+24.3%+38.3%Stacks (STX)$0.1775+22.8%+43.3%Pepe (PEPE)$0.00000381+22.4%+43.3%Zcash (ZEC)$693.42+21.2%+39.7%Bitway (BTW)$0.4858+20.1%+57.2%WhiteBIT Coin (WBT)$71.17+17.7%+30.7%Ethena's ENA was the largest weekly gainer among the 150 biggest tokens. FalconX and Ethena announced a $1 billion warehouse financing facility on Wednesday morning, routing assets backing the USDe stablecoin into overcollateralized institutional loans through a special purpose vehicle. Collateral sits with qualified custodians, and FalconX acts as originator, servicer and collateral manager.
"Secured institutional lending is one of the largest and most durable sources of return in finance, and on-chain capital has barely touched it," said Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs. Ethena's governance forum had carried a legal review of the FalconX credit agreement since Aug. 4.
The ENA fee switch remains dormant. The Risk Committee's 2024 conditions required USDe supply above $6 billion; supply now stands at $4.08 billion, according to DefiLlama. Committee applicants writing on the governance forum this month said the conditions are unmet. Ethena's annualized fees run at $322 million on $4.38 billion of total value locked.
Curve's CRV rose on a scheduled supply cut. Annual CRV emissions fell below 100 million for the first time on Aug. 13 as Epoch 6 began, dropping to about 97.2 million from 115.5 million, a 15.9% cut that requires no vote, Curve said. The protocol holds $1.32 billion of TVL and generates $58.4 million of annualized fees, with roughly 90% of fee revenue going to veCRV holders.
Zcash extended a run built on institutional buying. Grayscale amended its filing to convert the Grayscale Zcash Trust into a spot ETF on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH, disclosing that DCG International Investments is in non-binding talks to acquire about 200,000 ZEC, worth roughly $139 million at Friday's price. Fortitude, the DCG-owned Zcash miner, reported Thursday it mined 33,646 ZEC in the second quarter on $20.9 million of revenue. The Defiant covered Grayscale's original conversion filing in November.
Stacks gained on a September calendar. Its Bitcoin Staking Genesis Bond begins at Bitcoin block 966,350, expected next month, and a 90-day DeFi incentive program with Zest and Bitflow was announced Aug. 13, according to Stacks. STX trades 95% below its April 2024 record.
Lighter's LIT rose 17% after the CFTC committee meeting. Founder Vladimir Novakovski holds one of the 43 seats on the Innovation Advisory Committee. Neither Lighter nor the CFTC has announced a U.S. perpetuals offering. Lighter processed $9.95 billion of perpetual volume over seven days against $577.8 million of TVL.
Bitcoin Cash, Pepe and WhiteBIT Coin rallied without token-specific news. WBT set a record $72.23 on Friday.
MemeCore Finds A BuyerTokenPrice24h7dMemeCore (M)$1.12-5.8%+3.1%OKB$104.06-2.4%-3.8%Mantle (MNT)$0.5026-2.4%+7.3%Monero (XMR)$409.61+0.0%+2.9%Velvet (VELVET)$0.7711+12.8%-20.6%MemeCore was the worst performer among the 150 largest tokens for a second day, and the supply increase that appeared on Aug. 19 now has an explanation. Nasdaq-listed ZeroStack said Wednesday it received 925,925,926 M tokens valued at $1.08 each, or $1 billion, from Puple AI and Blockcat Pte. in exchange for 3.5 million common shares and pre-funded warrants for 36.2 million more at $25.19 per share. The token count matches the roughly 926 million increase in M's circulating supply recorded that day.
Rudy Rong, a MemeCore principal, was appointed ZeroStack president. "We believe ZeroStack represents the ideal public company through which to accelerate collaboration," he said in the release. Neither the release nor MemeCore's announcements page explains where the tokens originated. CoinGecko counts 2.26 billion M in circulation against 5.41 billion total and a 10 billion maximum, for a $2.54 billion market value on $4.35 million of daily volume — a turnover ratio of 0.17%. Onchain researcher ZachXBT publicly asked MemeCore in April to "provide a single data point to support your $6B mkt cap at a top 20 token and why insiders hold >90% of supply." The team has not responded.
Monero's 2.9% week against Zcash's 39.7% comes down to access. Zcash has a spot ETF conversion pending at the SEC, a DCG-owned miner filing quarterly results and public-company treasury buyers. Monero has no U.S. spot ETF path. XMR is up 14.9% over 30 days after reaching a record earlier this year, and no protocol or security issue surfaced this week.
OKB was the largest token by market value to fall over seven days, one of only six decliners among the 150 biggest. It rose 6.5% on Aug. 15 while the broader market was falling, and gave back the gain as everything else caught up.
Velvet was the week's largest decliner despite gaining 12.8% on Friday. The token is 63% below the $2.08 record it set on June 29 after a 571% three-month run, and monthly unlocks of about 1% of supply began July 10, with the next due Sept. 10. No exploit, delisting or governance action occurred. Velvet holds $663,198 of TVL against a $330 million market value.
DeFi total value locked rose 4.9% over 24 hours to $86.06 billion, DefiLlama data shows. Stablecoin supply did not follow. The total stablecoin market capitalization stood at $302.1 billion, up 0.47% over seven days and down 0.23% over 30 days. The TVL increase reflects collateral repricing rather than new capital entering.
Bitcoin (BTC) is showing early signs of a potential shift in market conditions, with key on-chain signals flipping bullish.
CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost said Bitcoin’s Bull Score has returned to bullish territory for the first time since October 2025, signaling a potential shift in its market regime. The indicator crossed the 60 threshold, which separates bullish and bearish territory. Darkfost noted that the score failed to reach this level even in May, when Bitcoin broke above $82,000.
“This is the first time the Bitcoin Bull Score has moved back into bullish territory (≥60) since October 2025,” Darkfost stated in a Friday report.
Bitcoin Bull Score Index. Source: CryptoQuantThe metric tracks 10 indicators to assess the market’s current regime. Six of those indicators have now turned green, including demand growth, stablecoin liquidity and the trader realized price. The analyst noted that during previous bull phases, the Bull Score Index typically remained above 60 for most of the cycle before eventually falling back into bearish territory.
“If this indicator manages to hold at this level and keeps climbing, a new bull cycle could well be starting,” he wrote.
Bitcoin's MVRV delivers first powerful signalMeanwhile, CryptoQuant contributor Crypto Dan pointed to Bitcoin’s MVRV indicator, which compares its market value with its realized value.
The analyst noted that the MVRV is now showing a sharp vertical rise, a movement that has historically appeared as Bitcoin’s previous downcycles came to an end.
“This signal is the very movement that appeared as the bottom range came to an end in every past downcycle,” Crypto Dan wrote.
BTC MVRV Ratio. Source: CryptoQuantThe development suggests that Bitcoin could be moving closer to a transition from a declining market into an upward phase.
Short squeeze drives Bitcoin’s 27% reboundWhile the analysts focused on market indicators, CryptoQuant contributor Boris attributed Bitcoin’s latest surge largely to derivatives activity.
Bitcoin climbed from around $63,000 to $77,000, gaining roughly 27% in the past 7 days. Boris said the move was driven mainly by a chain reaction of short liquidations on Binance futures rather than spot buying.
As short positions were liquidated, the forced buying created additional upward pressure and helped produce a “practically uninterrupted vertical surge.” Binance data showed a short squeeze reading of 6.94 during the latest move, compared with 5.38 in November 2024.
BTC: Binance Long vs Short Squeeze Pressure. Source: CryptoQuantBoris shared that the reading represents the strongest short squeeze pressure on Binance since late 2024, with extreme short positioning acting as the primary trigger for Bitcoin’s rapid advance.
CryptoQuant Head of Research Julio Moreno highlighted that Bitcoin’s surge could hit $83,000, a level that matches the top crypto’s 365-day moving average and represents a key technical target. However, he warned that Bitcoin’s rapid 20%+ advance could leave the market overheated and vulnerable to a pullback as traders take profits.
“Indeed, the Traders’ On-chain unrealized profit/loss margin is approaching the highest level since May, when Bitcoin peaked around $82K,” Moreno told FXStreet.
Bitcoin is trading at $77,370, up 6.4% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing.
A Texas-based Bitcoin mining infrastructure company is taking the public markets route. Bitari Inc. filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on August 21, 2026, seeking to raise $30 million through an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker BIAI.
The offering covers 4,285,715 shares of common stock priced at $7.00 each, with gross proceeds expected to hit approximately $30 million and net proceeds landing around $27 million after underwriting and related expenses.
What Bitari actually does Bitari builds and operates the physical infrastructure that makes Bitcoin mining possible. Its current footprint centers on a 20 MW operational site in Wheeler, Texas. A second 20 MW facility is under development in Dumas, Texas, and the company holds a contracted 20 MW site in Marion, Indiana.
For the nine months ended April 30, 2026, Bitari posted revenues of approximately $8.37 million and a net income of $183,905.
US Tiger Securities is serving as underwriter, and the company has also secured an over-allotment option covering an additional 642,857 shares. Nasdaq listing approval is still pending.
A controlled company from day one After the IPO closes, AI Power X Inc. is expected to retain approximately 85.87% of voting power in Bitari, making it a controlled company under Nasdaq’s governance rules. Public shareholders will hold economic exposure but limited governance leverage.
Where the money is going Bitari plans to deploy the roughly $27 million in net proceeds as follows: 40% toward acquisitions, 30% toward expansion and branding, 15% toward new infrastructure, 10% toward research and development, and 5% for general corporate purposes.
The AI data center wildcard The S-1 discloses a joint venture with Aleria Technology LLC to build an AI data center at Bitari’s Wheeler, Texas site, with a potential energy capacity of up to 1,300 MW. To move that project forward, Bitari anticipates making a $15 million security deposit by late August 2026, a meaningful financial commitment relative to the $27 million the company expects to net from the entire IPO.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
A 2021 clip of Elon Musk making his case for Bitcoin (BTC) is circulating again. His main argument was not scarcity. It was that Bitcoin has no throat to choke.
He meant there is nobody to threaten. No single party can be forced to empty the system. Five years on, filings show what his own companies did with that idea.
Why Elon Musk Framed Bitcoin as an Information SystemMusk spoke in July 2021 at The B Word, a one-day conference he joined alongside Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood.
He opened by redefining money itself. He called it an information system for allocating labor.
Then he went after the plumbing. Bank settlement still takes one to five business days. He called the ACH network ancient and insecure. Paying by card, he said, is like handing a stranger your password.
Bitcoin’s edge, in his telling, was not speed. It was that nobody can be leaned on.
“Bitcoin per se is mostly solving for … having no throat to choke, decentralized, so there’s no one who can be coerced in any way to empty their bitcoin account,” Elon Musk, at The B Word conference, July 2021.
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In plain terms, there is no head office to raid. There is no chief executive to lean on.
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What Tesla and SpaceX Actually DidMusk named the flaws in the same breath.
“Transaction volume is low, transaction cost is high and usability for the average person is not yet very good, but it has a lot of potential.”
He had already wavered once. Two months before the panel, he stopped Tesla accepting bitcoin for cars, blaming mining emissions.
The harder test came 11 months later. Tesla had bought $1.50 billion of bitcoin in early 2021. By mid-2022 it had converted roughly 75% of that into cash, a filing shows. The sales raised $936 million.
SpaceX did the opposite. Its Bitcoin has not moved in any period it has ever disclosed.
Every SpaceX filing since 2024 lists the same 18,712 BTC at the same $661 million cost. Only the value changes. It was $1.75 billion at the end of 2024 and $1.10 billion in June.
That grip held through pressure. In July, an $88 test transfer triggered sale rumors. Weeks later its debut earnings report booked a $539 million paper loss for the half and kept every coin.
Tesla’s leftover 11,509 BTC cost $386 million and has sat still since 2022. Its second quarter results logged a further $334 million decline over the half. Together the two hold 30,221 BTC for about $1.05 billion.
Top 100 Public Bitcoin Treasury Companies. Source: Bitcoin TreasuriesAt a current price near $78,570, that is worth roughly $2.37 billion.
So the answer is plain. Nobody can force either company to sell. Tesla did anyway, once, by choice. That is the part no ledger protects against.
Bitcoin’s rebound from a summer consolidation period gained momentum as improving on-chain conditions further bolstered the broader bull market structure.
The latest move pushed BTC price toward a crucial area where overhead supply had previously remained relatively thin.
Bitcoin, however, had already created solid support levels between $61,849 and $63,111 prior to the recent price rally.
Prior to this, over two million BTC had been traded in the area, generating high demand from BTC holders.
Meanwhile, URPD data revealed limited overhead resistance beyond $75,733, according to analyst Ali Martinez. The distribution left Bitcoin with significantly lower historical supply before the next major concentration.
The analyst predicted that clearing $75,733 could open Bitcoin’s path toward the 83,307–84,569 region. Roughly one million BTC had previously changed hands around that upper supply cluster.
Therefore, Bitcoin’s underlying holder base had provided a strong foundation beneath the latest breakout attempt. However, a sustained demand would be required for price to successfully exploit the overhead supply.
MVRV reversal revives a cycle signal Beyond holder distribution, Bitcoin’s MVRV ratio strengthened vertically following its recent downturn. Notably, the reversal as a signal that it has previously witnessed around significant cycle bottoms.
Similar MVRV recoveries had emerged during periods when Bitcoin’s valuation weakened hugely against its realized value. Historically, those reversals accompanied transitions from broader declines toward sustained recovery phases.
Importantly, the latest turn came at a time when Bitcoin had already rallied off its June lows. This alignment improved the significance of the valuation recovery in the broader market structure.
But history by itself would not mean a repeat of the similar cycle expansion. Bitcoin price still needs sustained demand to confirm whether the valuation reversal could support further price breakout.
However, the MVRV recovery strengthened the bullish evidence that accompanied Bitcoin’s increasingly favorable distribution amongst the holders.
Source: CryptoQuant Falling NVT adds weight to recovery Bitcoin’s NVT (Network Value to Transactions) ratio also declined in the midst of the ongoing recovery, boosting the valuation conditions of the network.
At press time, the metric had fallen 21.64% to 16.3258 in 24 hours, extending its recent downward trajectory.
This development complemented the MVRV reversal rather than leaving price appreciation unsupported by on-chain conditions.
Moreover, both measures had improved as Bitcoin price moved towards the thinner URPD supply zone.
However, NVT is not enough for determining if Bitcoin would keep the breakout going. Rather, its decline provided a supporting hand to the overall demand and valuation situation.
Source: CryptoQuant Breakout strength meets an overheated RSI On the daily chart, price action had already delivered an important structural change before Bitcoin challenged the analyst’s projected pathway.
Bitcoin price broke out of the 58,142-67,076 consolidation zone, before clearing the $72,999 level.
At the time of analysis, the rally had pushed Bitcoin [BTC] toward the $75,261 zone, placing the $78,095 resistance level directly ahead. However, RSI had surged to 83.21, indicating a market in strong overbought condition.
Meanwhile, MACD strengthened during the recent breakout rather than lagging behind price. The MACD line reached 1,672.54, while the signal line stood at 1,178.46.
During the range escape, its histogram expanded to 494.08 in the bullish direction, indicating stronger bullish pressure. A successful $78,095 break would reveal a $82,711 supply cluster, which would move closer towards Martinez’s price range.
However, the elevated RSI could encourage short-term cooling before Bitcoin price attempts another sustained extension.
Source: TradingView Final Summary Bitcoin’s strong support and improving on-chain metrics have reinforced the current breakout. Clearing $78,095 could strengthen Bitcoin’s path toward the 83,307–84,569 supply zone.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest rally is primarily driven by improving macroeconomic conditions rather than crypto-specific factors, according to a Thursday report by CoinShares.
Bitcoin surges on positive macroeconomic backdropThe firm stated that recent economic data have weakened the case for further US monetary tightening. Calmer inflation and weaker payroll data have increased expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could move toward a less restrictive policy stance.
CoinShares noted that Bitcoin remains particularly sensitive to changes in liquidity expectations and real yields, making the shift in rate expectations supportive for the top crypto.
“Bitcoin's latest rally is a macro story, not a crypto one,” CoinShares said.
The firm pointed to the Treasury market as further evidence of the changing environment. Short-dated yields have declined, suggesting investors are no longer pricing in additional Fed rate hikes. However, longer-dated yields have continued to rise, reflecting growing concerns about the US fiscal position.
Beyond the macroeconomic backdrop, CoinShares noted that Bitcoin positioning has also improved, with whales shifting from selling toward accumulation.
However, the firm cautioned that accumulation has not yet reached levels that would indicate an immediate and sustained breakout.
“This shift has helped underpin prices and supported Bitcoin's move convincingly above its 200 day moving average, a level historically associated with stronger rallies once overcome,” CoinShares wrote.
CoinShares expects Bitcoin to remain range-bound for now, identifying $80,000 as key resistance. A decisive move above that level could require clearer Fed confirmation that the risk of further tightening has diminished, the report stated.
Bitcoin leads institutional demand as year-to-date flows flip positiveWith BTC trading near $80,000, institutional demand is showing signs of recovery. CoinShares noted that digital asset investment products have already attracted $2.2 billion in inflows this week, marking their largest weekly inflow of the year.
Bitcoin-focused products accounted for $1.6 billion of those inflows, pushing year-to-date flows back into positive territory following an extended period of weaker demand.
The firm added that US regulatory developments, including progress on the CLARITY Act, could have a greater impact on Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and the broader altcoin market than on Bitcoin.
The report highlighted the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium as a possible test for the market's next directional move. CoinShares said markets will watch signals on the future direction of monetary policy, including comments from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.
Bitcoin is trading at $78,580, up 8% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing on Friday.
TLDR: Bitcoin price rose 7.89% to $78,589.05, with a 90% gold correlation supporting the view that both assets followed the same macro trade. US spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $606.29 million on August 20, lifting four-day inflows to $1.61 billion and giving the breakout institutional support. Roughly $709 million in BTC shorts were liquidated over 24 hours, turning forced purchases into fuel after Bitcoin cleared the $75,000 barrier. The 75,000–76,000 zone now anchors the bullish setup, while fading ETF demand could expose $70,740 and then the $69,113 retracement. Bitcoin price surged 7.89% to $78,589.05 over 24 hours, leading gains across the cryptocurrency market. The move extended the weekly advance near 20% and pushed BTC above the $75,000 breakout level. Renewed institutional demand provided the clearest source of spot buying. US spot funds absorbed $606.29 million on August 20, their strongest daily intake since May 1.
The rally also followed a Treasury decision to expand buybacks for long-dated bonds. Traders treated the announcement as a liquidity signal, while falling dollar pressure lifted scarce assets. The Bitcoin price also showed a 90% short-term correlation with gold during the macro-driven move.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Bitcoin Price Gains Support From ETFs and Treasury Move Bitcoin ETF inflows extended to a fourth consecutive session, bringing the four-day total to roughly $1.61 billion. BlackRock’s IBIT collected $502.99 million, more than four-fifths of the daily total. Fidelity’s FBTC followed with $64.74 million, while Bitwise, ARK, and Invesco also reported additions.
That allocation pattern matters since ETF purchases create direct demand for Bitcoin held by regulated funds. The concentration in IBIT shows that the latest advance relied heavily on one vehicle. Sustained daily flows above $200 million would offer stronger evidence that fresh capital is replacing forced derivatives buying.
The Treasury provided the macro trigger. It raised the maximum liquidity-support buyback from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation. The change begins September 9 and covers 10-year through 30-year nominal coupon securities.
Bond buybacks do not equal Federal Reserve money creation. They can improve market functioning and signal concern about elevated long-term yields. The initial response lowered yields and weakened the dollar, conditions often favorable for the Bitcoin price and gold. Yet long yields later rebounded, limiting claims that the program changed the macro regime.
Bitcoin’s gold correlation added another layer of context. Both assets rose amid inflation, fiscal stress, and currency debasement concerns. Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff acknowledged that investors were choosing between competing hedges. His observation described behavior, not an endorsement of Bitcoin’s long-term value.
Short Squeeze Leaves Rally Facing a Crucial Support Test A crypto short squeeze magnified the spot-led move. Coinglass data showed nearly $709 million in Bitcoin shorts liquidated during one 24-hour period, against about $139 million in longs. Across the broader market, short liquidations reached about $1.13 billion, compared with $290 million in long liquidations.
Forced closures require traders to buy back Bitcoin, accelerating price gains when liquidity is thin. That feedback loop helped carry the Bitcoin price through $75,000 and briefly above $79,000. RSI 14 reached 80.43, showing strong momentum but also an overextended market. Once the crypto short squeeze fades, new spot demand must carry the advance.
The technical structure now centers on $75,000 to $76,000. Holding that zone would preserve the breakout and keep the $80,256 Fibonacci extension within reach. A loss of support could expose $70,740, followed by the 38.2% retracement near $69,113. Falling Bitcoin ETF inflows would increase that downside risk.
Prediction traders appear less convinced about immediate follow-through. Kalshi contracts place the Bitcoin price near $77,000 for year-end, despite the powerful weekly recovery. Those contracts indicated about $66,000 before Wednesday’s surge, showing expectations adjusted quickly without projecting another large rise.
BTC Price Prediction on Kalshi Markets Regulation remains another catalyst. President Donald Trump urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act. Meanwhile, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig directed staff to prepare market rules. Clearer oversight could support longer-term participation, though it does not guarantee token purchases.
The Bitcoin price has trimmed its 2026 loss from nearly 30% to 11.4% during the four-day rebound. The Fear and Greed Index jumped from 34 to 72. Treasury auctions scheduled for August 25 through August 27 will test demand for government debt. Weak Bitcoin ETF inflows, rising yields, or profit-taking would challenge the breakout before $80,256.
The SEC has opened a public comment period on Cboe BZX Exchange’s proposal to list six daily 3x leveraged Bitcoin and Ethereum futures ETFs.
The proposal, filed under SR-CboeBZX-2026-065, would cover commodity-pool products sponsored by Volatility Shares. The funds would seek three times the daily performance of front-month and next-month CME Bitcoin and Ethereum futures contracts, using daily reset mechanics.
That is a very different product from a spot ETF.
A 3x leveraged futures ETF is built for short-term tactical exposure. It is not a simple buy-and-hold wrapper for Bitcoin or Ethereum, and its daily reset structure can create performance drift over time.
The SEC’s move opens the proposal for public comments. It does not mean the products have been approved.
TL;DR The SEC opened comments on Cboe’s proposal for 3x leveraged BTC and ETH futures ETFs. The proposed products would be sponsored by Volatility Shares. The filing is under review and has not been approved. Why Leveraged Crypto ETFs Matter Leveraged ETFs are popular because they give traders amplified exposure without directly using margin or futures accounts.
In crypto, that can be especially attractive because Bitcoin and Ethereum already move sharply. A 3x daily product would magnify those moves, creating potential for larger gains and larger losses in a traditional brokerage format.
That is exactly why regulators pay attention.
Leveraged products can be misunderstood by retail investors. They are designed to track daily performance, not long-term cumulative returns. Over multiple sessions, compounding and volatility can cause results to diverge from what investors might expect.
That risk becomes more important when the underlying asset is already volatile.
Futures, Not Spot The proposal concerns futures-based products, not spot Bitcoin or spot Ethereum ETFs.
That distinction matters because the funds would use CME futures exposure rather than directly holding BTC or ETH. Futures-based exposure can behave differently from spot assets because of roll costs, margin, contract structure, and futures-market dynamics.
Investors may see “Bitcoin ETF” or “Ethereum ETF” and assume direct asset exposure.
That would be inaccurate.
These would be leveraged futures products tied to daily movements in futures contracts.
The Comment Period Is Only One Step A public comment period gives market participants, investors, issuers, competitors, and other stakeholders a chance to respond to the SEC.
Comments may address investor protection, market manipulation, disclosure, suitability, volatility, liquidity, and exchange-listing standards.
The SEC can approve, reject, delay, or request changes.
So the current development is procedural but important. It shows the proposal is formally in the review pipeline, but it does not indicate the regulator has accepted the structure.
Crypto ETF Market Keeps Expanding The proposal also shows how quickly the crypto ETF market is moving beyond plain spot products.
Bitcoin spot ETFs opened the door. Ethereum followed. Now issuers are testing leveraged, inverse, staked, altcoin, and multi-asset structures.
That expansion is natural in traditional ETF markets.
Once a base asset category becomes accepted, issuers compete by offering more specialized exposures. Crypto is now entering that phase, and regulators are being asked to decide how much complexity is appropriate.
What Traders Need To Understand If products like these eventually launch, they will not be suitable for every investor.
Daily 3x leveraged funds are typically tools for active traders. Holding them over longer periods can produce unexpected results because the fund resets exposure each day.
For Bitcoin and Ethereum, that risk may be magnified by extreme volatility.
The SEC’s review will likely center on whether disclosures, exchange rules, and product design are sufficient to protect investors.
For now, Cboe’s proposal is another sign that crypto ETF experimentation is accelerating. Approval, however, is still an open question.
This article is based on the SEC’s self-regulatory organization filing notice for Cboe BZX Exchange.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Tom Lee ranked 17 large-cap crypto stocks by how closely they track Bitcoin and Ethereum. The oddest result sits at the bottom. Bitcoin miners barely move with BTC price at all.
Core Scientific tracked the asset at 16%. MicroStrategy tracked it at 78%. Yet MicroStrategy mines no Bitcoin, it only holds a pile of it.
What Tom Lee’s Crypto Stock Rankings ShowThe Fundstrat co-founder measured 90-day correlations against BlackRock’s two crypto funds. He covered every crypto-linked stock worth more than $2 billion. Fundstrat and Factset supplied the numbers.
Correlation simply asks whether two prices move together. A score near 100% means they move in step. A score near zero means they ignore each other.
BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) led on Ethereum (ETH) at 80%. Coinbase (COIN) came second at 74%.
Strategy (MSTR) led on Bitcoin (BTC) at 78%. Lee also expects ether to outrun bitcoin this cycle. He chairs BitMine, the stock at the top of his own Ethereum column.
Large Cap Equities that Track Crypto Prices. Source Lee on XWhy Bitcoin Miners Stopped Tracking BitcoinNow look at the miners. Core Scientific (CORZ) scored 16%. Cipher Mining (CIFR) hit 17%, TeraWulf (WULF) 18%, and Hut 8 (HUT) 19%.
Riot Platforms (RIOT) reached 31% and IREN 33%. Every one of them trailed Trump Media (DJT), which scored 40% and mines nothing.
The answer sits in their accounts. These firms now sell computing power to artificial intelligence companies, and that business has taken over.
The reason is practical. Mining margins thinned as costs rose, while miners already owned the two things AI firms compete for hardest.
They hold cheap power contracts and warehouses wired to carry it. Renting that out to AI companies pays better, and it pays every month rather than with each block.
Core Scientific booked $164.2 million in revenue for the quarter ending in June. Colocation, its data centre business, brought in $136.7 million. Self-mining brought in $21.5 million.
So AI work supplied 83% of the money. Bitcoin supplied 13%.
TeraWulf showed the same shape in May. It earned $21.0 million leasing high performance computing capacity against $13.0 million from mining, or 62% from AI.
IREN sits further behind. Its quarter ending in March brought $33.6 million from AI cloud services. Mining still brought $111.2 million, leaving AI at 23%.
Line those three up against Lee’s table and a pattern appears. The more a miner earns from AI, the less its shares follow bitcoin.
Core Scientific is the most AI-driven and the least correlated. IREN is the least AI-driven and the most correlated. TeraWulf sits between them on both measures.
“We expect the business to be increasingly driven by recurring, contracted revenue, reducing exposure to the volatility historically associated with bitcoin mining,” Patrick Fleury, TeraWulf chief financial officer, in the company’s quarterly results.
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History makes the switch sharper. Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2022, after a Bitcoin crash and heavy debts. It emerged in January 2024.
The miner that Bitcoin nearly destroyed is now the miner least exposed to it.
What This Changes for Crypto Equity ExposureThe practical read is blunt. Anyone who bought a miner for Bitcoin exposure now owns a power and computing landlord. Its fortunes rest on demand from AI firms.
That works both ways. Miners have climbed while Bitcoin fell, which is exactly what a weak correlation predicts. The pivot is sector wide, and it has been costly. MARA and CleanSpark posted $851 million in combined losses while chasing it.
Treasury companies track Bitcoin more tightly. They have not paid better. MicroStrategy traded near $118.86 on Friday against a 52-week high of $365.21.
MicroStrategy Stock (MSTR) Performance. Source: Yahoo FinanceCorrelation describes direction, not profit. A stock can shadow Bitcoin faithfully on the way down.
One caution covers the whole table. These are 90-day trailing figures. They tighten and loosen with each market phase rather than holding forever.
Bitcoin traded near $77,151 at the time of writing, up 6.3% on the day. Ether changed hands around $2,412 after a 3.5% gain.
The next earnings season will test how far the split runs. Miners that book more AI revenue should drift further from Bitcoin, not closer.
Lee built his table to help equity investors buy crypto exposure. Read closely, it shows how much of that exposure the mining sector has already sold off.
BitMine Chairman Tom Lee has identified BMNR as the US-listed stock most closely tied to Ethereum, citing an 80% correlation while predicting that ETH will outperform Bitcoin during the current cycle.
Summary
BitMine showed an 80% correlation with ETH in Fundstrat’s comparison of 17 large-cap stocks. Lee expects tokenization and AI applications to support Ethereum’s performance against Bitcoin. BitMine held 5.82 million ETH, or 4.8% of the token’s supply, as of Aug. 16. US spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $365 million in July, compared with $205 million for Bitcoin funds. Fundstrat said in a Friday post on X that its study covered 17 companies with market values above $2 billion, giving stock investors a list of publicly traded businesses that have moved closely with Bitcoin or Ethereum.
For equity investors seeking exposure to crypto, particularly the sizable moves made by @ethereum and Bitcoin
The 17 large cap (>$2b) stocks with correlation to crypto shown below:
– $BMNR highest correlation to $ETH (80%)
– next closest is $COIN (74%)
– $MSTR highest… pic.twitter.com/p7CM92Uk6m
— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) August 21, 2026 BitMine Immersion Technologies led the Ethereum group with a correlation of 80%, while Coinbase ranked second at 74%. Among stocks linked to Bitcoin, Strategy recorded the highest reading at 78%, followed by Coinbase at 74%.
Lee said he expects Ethereum to beat Bitcoin during the present cycle because tokenization and AI applications could create demand for Ethereum’s network. In his view, the two uses matter more than the themes that supported ETH during earlier market cycles.
The post did not disclose the period used to calculate the correlations or explain whether Fundstrat measured daily, weekly, or monthly returns. Correlations also change as prices and market conditions change, meaning the figures describe the relationship found in Fundstrat’s dataset rather than a fixed link between each stock and the corresponding cryptocurrency.
BitMine stock gives investors an indirect route to Ethereum BitMine’s position at the top of the list follows its decision to build the world’s largest corporate Ethereum treasury. As of Aug. 16, the company held 5,815,164 ETH, 210 Bitcoin, $78 million in cash and marketable securities, and investments in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.
Using an ETH price of $1,893, BitMine valued its combined crypto, cash, securities and other investments at $11.4 billion. The company said its Ethereum position represented 4.8% of the token’s stated 120.7 million supply, placing it 96% of the way toward its target of owning 5%.
During the week ending Aug. 16, BitMine purchased another 9,926 ETH. The company has bought Ether every week since adopting its Ethereum treasury strategy on June 30, 2025, according to its latest update.
An Aug. 10 treasury update previously covered by crypto.news showed BitMine holding approximately 5.81 million ETH after another 7,391-token purchase. At that time, the company had also repurchased three million BMNR shares under a $4 billion authorization.
BitMine added another 1.7 million shares to its repurchases during the following week, taking the total since July to more than 20.8 million. Lee said management considered the common shares undervalued, although that assessment represents the company’s view rather than an independent valuation.
BMNR closed at about $22.72 on Aug. 21, gaining roughly 5.3% during the session. Coinbase rose around 7.5%, while Strategy added about 5.9%, as Bitcoin and several large altcoins advanced during the same trading period.
Ethereum staking has become central to BitMine’s model Of BitMine’s 5.82 million ETH, 5,067,309 tokens were staked as of Aug. 16. The amount represented about 87% of the company’s Ethereum holdings and was valued at $9.6 billion using the price cited in its announcement.
Based on a seven-day annualized yield of 2.61%, BitMine projected around $250 million in annual staking revenue from the position. The company said potential annual rewards could reach $287 million after its remaining ETH is staked through its MAVAN platform and external partners.
Staking gives BitMine a source of revenue that Strategy cannot generate from its Bitcoin holdings because Bitcoin does not use a proof-of-stake system. BitMine’s estimates, however, depend on Ethereum’s staking yield, ETH’s market price, validator performance and the amount of company-owned Ether placed into staking.
The company also joined the Russell 1000 large-cap index on June 26, giving US fund managers and benchmark-tracking products another route to obtain indirect Ethereum exposure. BMNR trades on the New York Stock Exchange, while its 9.5% Series A perpetual preferred stock trades under the ticker BMNP.
Compared with a spot Ethereum ETF, BMNR carries risks tied to its operating costs, capital decisions, share issuance, staking activity, and other investments. Its market value can also trade above or below the value of the ETH and other assets held on its balance sheet.
Tokenization supports Lee’s Ethereum thesis Lee has described tokenization as one of the main reasons Ethereum could gain against Bitcoin. In BitMine’s Aug. 17 update, he said the ETH/BTC ratio had risen to 0.02994 and moved above a long-running downward trend.
Earlier ETH/BTC analysis showed the ratio testing resistance near 0.0286 in July after recovering from an early June low around 0.026. The ratio measures how much Bitcoin one Ether can buy, so a rising reading indicates that ETH is gaining value against BTC.
According to Lee, Ethereum’s relative gains during earlier cycles were supported by initial coin offerings in 2017 and 2018, NFTs in 2020 and 2021, and stablecoin adoption in 2025. He expects Wall Street tokenization and blockchain-based AI agents to support the next period of ETH outperformance.
RWA.xyz data offered additional context for the tokenization argument. As of Aug. 21, the analytics platform tracked 2,267 real-world assets on Ethereum and $13.99 billion in RWA transfer volume over 30 days, an increase of 20.45%.
The same database placed the stablecoin market value on Ethereum at $157.11 billion, with 26.6 million holders and $1.55 trillion in 30-day transfer volume. Tokenized-asset platforms listed on the network included Ondo, Securitize, Circle, Tether, and Sky.
Wall Street involvement has also extended beyond companies holding ETH. BlackRock, JPMorgan, and several asset managers have developed or tested tokenized funds, collateral products, and settlement services that use Ethereum or networks compatible with its software.
US Ethereum ETFs show signs of institutional demand US-listed exchange-traded funds have provided another measure of demand from investors who prefer regulated brokerage products. Spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $365 million in net inflows during July, while spot Bitcoin ETFs received $205 million.
The July result was Ethereum funds’ strongest month on record and the first time their monthly inflows exceeded Bitcoin ETF inflows by more than two to one, according to a recent ETF flow review. On July 23, Ethereum products received $72.64 million, compared with $68.99 million for Bitcoin funds.
Ethereum ETFs added another $53.75 million on Aug. 4, followed by $202 million over the next three trading days. During July, the ETH/BTC ratio rose by about 11%, moving from roughly 0.027 to 0.030.
AI applications form the second part of Lee’s forecast. Ethereum.org says blockchain-based agents can control wallets, execute transactions, interact with smart contracts and use stablecoins to pay for computing resources, data and application access.
Ethereum.org also describes the technology as experimental and warns users to exercise caution. Agent activity does not guarantee demand for ETH because applications can use other blockchains, layer-2 networks, or off-chain payment systems.
Lee has pointed to Robinhood Chain as one example of financial and blockchain services coming together. The Ethereum layer-2 network uses ETH for transaction fees and sends its final transaction records to Ethereum, while Robinhood reported 27.4 million funded customers at the end of the first quarter.
Within weeks of its July launch, the network had recorded almost $9 billion in cumulative decentralized-exchange volume, $431 million in locked assets and more than 250,000 daily active users, according to Robinhood Chain data. More than 80% of its early exchange volume came from memecoins, while temporary fee waivers reduced trading costs during the network’s first 90 days.
22 August 2026 | 01:42 Bitcoin punched toward $78,500 and Ether cleared $2,500 as the market's recovery dug deeper into high-beta altcoins, extending a risk-on rotation catalyzed by the U.S. Treasury’s latest liquidity maneuvers.
The tape rotates beyond Bitcoin and Ether Bitcoin and Ether set the market’s direction, but the distribution of gains is more revealing than either headline price. The table shows where buying accelerated most recently and where the largest weekly repricings had already occurred according to information from CoinMarketCap at the time of writing.
Asset Price 1h change 24h change 7d change Bitcoin $78,490 +1.3% +78% +24% Ethereum $2,510 +3% +8.5% +34% BNB $683 +1.2% +4.6% +13% XRP $1.40 +2.4% +11.8% +41% Solana $93.5 +2% +7% +24.7% Hyperliquid $76.8 +1.5% +2.7% +37.5% Dogecoin $0.0915 +5.2% +14% +31.3% Zcash $723 +2% +26.7% +47.5% Chainlink $12 +3% +14.9% +36% Cardano $0.225 +2.6% +14% +26.5% The hourly leaders and the 24-hour leaders are not identical. Zcash’s biggest move took place earlier in the session, while Dogecoin, Chainlink and Cardano were still gaining faster than Bitcoin at the latest reading. That split suggests fresh risk-taking, rather than a single uniform move across the market.
Participation is broader than a Bitcoin-only rally, but it is still selective. BNB and Hyperliquid trailed the fastest movers, while Tron and LEO were barely changed in the wider snapshot. The data supports a rotation into liquid, higher-volatility assets, not proof of a full altseason or identifiable institutional flows.
Even so, breadth remains selective. Laggards like Tron and UNUS SED LEO sat out the party, confirming this is a calculated capital rotation rather than an indiscriminate altseason.
How a Treasury policy shift lit the fuse The broader macro pivot began when the U.S. Treasury announced plans to effectively double its maximum long-dated bond buyback operations from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per cycle. Long-duration yields softened instantly, sending immediate tailwinds through Bitcoin, Ether, and gold.
As we detailed in our deep dive on Treasury’s expanded long-bond buybacks, this policy isn’t a backdoor quantitative easing engine. Rather, it unclogs vital liquidity channels for aging government paper, driving yields down and pushing yield-hungry capital out the risk curve.
That macro injection slammed straight into a digital asset market that had spent weeks grinding sideways in a tight cage. Once price action broke key resistance levels, trapped short positions faced a brutal reckoning. CoinGlass flagged the August 19 flush as crypto’s eighth-largest liquidation event in history. We dissected the mechanics of that cascade in our report on the $2.99 billion liquidation event.
Catching up to equities, but let’s drop the “undervalued” label Bulls love to lean on a relative-value narrative here. U.S. equities have been printing record highs all month, the S&P 500 settled at 7,798.99 on August 13, prompting UBS to bump its year-end target to 8,100 on the back of resilient tech earnings and AI capex.
Crypto entered the week nursing a multi-week hangover of compressed volatility. Calling tokens “undervalued” based on traditional equity metrics misses the mark, unlike stocks, tokens lack quarterly earnings reports or predictable cash-flow multiples. But the price action tells a simpler story: while equity investors piled into AI winners and safe-haven gold, crypto sat sidelined, making it an oversized sponge for newly unlocked macro liquidity.
Institutional desks smell momentum, but hold reservations Wall Street desks are tracking the move closely, though caution remains the overriding theme. CF Benchmarks noted that its institutional factor basket clawed back 16.2% after six consecutive weeks of pain, pointing out in their August 21 Factor Friday update that capital is heavily clustering in high-beta large caps rather than lifting the entire market equally.
According to Investopedia, analysts at Jefferies urged clients to keep champagne on ice, noting that it is far too early to declare a structural bull trend while regulatory milestones like the CLARITY Act remain pending.
It is a fair warning. Short squeezes can launch prices skyward on fast momentum alone, but long-term market health depends entirely on organic buyers stepping in long after the liquidations dry up.
What confirms a real trend shift? Watch for three critical signals to determine if this catch-up trade has legs:
Bitcoin defends the breakout zone: BTC needs to establish a firm base at or above $78,500 rather than sliding back into its old range once derivatives positioning cools. Altcoin breadth expands: Continued, orderly outperformance across Ether, Solana, XRP, and LINK provides a much cleaner health check than isolated token pumps. Macro tailwinds hold steady: Continued relief in bond yields and a softer dollar are vital to sustaining a risk-on environment. If Bitcoin rolls over and gives back the breakout, this week will be remembered as nothing more than a textbook leveraged flush. As our team explored in June why an AI-bubble burst could fuel a crypto bull market, any macro shift away from overcrowded equity trades could fundamentally rewrite crypto’s playbook. For now, the tape proves one undeniable truth: crypto is back to acting as the fastest horse in the macro race.
The article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Author
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
Dogecoin (DOGE), the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, climbed 4.3% in the past 24 hours to reach $0.08375, asserting itself as the eleventh-largest digital asset by market capitalization. Short-term bullish momentum in Dogecoin has become increasingly prominent, drawing renewed attention from traders and analysts alike.
Analyst views suggest inflection pointJosh Olszewicz, a prominent cryptocurrency trader and analyst known as @CarpeNoctom on X, recently highlighted mounting signs that Dogecoin’s long-standing downtrend against Bitcoin (BTC) might be approaching a turning point. Olszewicz suggested that DOGE’s pairing with BTC, which has been in a sustained decline since its explosive rally in early 2021, now hovers near a potential reversal zone.
His analysis pointed to a dramatic tightening in the DOGE/BTC trading range, a pattern reminiscent of the buildup seen before Dogecoin’s significant breakout in 2021. Olszewicz associated this compression with volatility contraction, often a precursor to substantial price movement in either direction.
He wrote that, historically, the bottoming out and subsequent reversal of DOGE/BTC has acted as a signal for broader rallies across altcoins. According to Olszewicz, a breakout from Dogecoin’s multi-year descending channel or the formation of a higher low could provide further bullish signals for the market.
Periods of compressed volatility on the DOGE/BTC chart often set the stage for considerable price expansion, mirroring the accumulation periods that preceded past breakouts in the asset’s history.
Olszewicz’s outlook hinges on either a falling wedge breakout or a mean-reversion rally from current lows, both of which could generate increased speculative interest.
Mini dictionary: DOGE/BTC pair — This trading pair measures the value of Dogecoin in terms of Bitcoin. Analyzing this ratio helps traders assess the relative strength and momentum of Dogecoin compared to Bitcoin, often providing insights into market cycles affecting altcoins.
Short-term market performanceDogecoin’s daily trading range fluctuated from $0.07913 to $0.08562, reflecting heightened activity. Notably, DOGE outperformed Bitcoin in the same timeframe, posting a 2.3% gain against BTC.
MetricValueCurrent Price$0.08375Market Cap Rank#1124h Low / High$0.07913 / $0.0856224h Change+4.3%Change vs. BTC (24h)+2.3%30-Day Change+15.6%Throughout the past month, Dogecoin has steadily climbed, advancing 21.4% over seven days and 15.6% in the previous 30 days. The asset’s price trajectory shows that buyers have significantly contributed to a foundation of higher lows, pointing to a sustained uptrend.
Speculative capital returnsSpeculative inflows have intensified as traders position themselves for a potential breakout in $DOGE. Nevertheless, whether this renewed momentum endures remains to be seen, given the cryptocurrency’s cyclical history and volatility in the broader market.
With Dogecoin currently consolidating near historical accumulation zones, observers are closely monitoring technical developments in the DOGE/BTC chart for clues about wider trends in the altcoin market.
Dogecoin’s performance continues to attract market participants, despite uncertainty over the longevity of its latest upward movement.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Bitcoin is up 23% over the past week, fueled by strong ETF inflows after the Treasury announced plans to at least double its long-dated bond buybacks.
Notable Statistics:
Coinglass data shows 170,793 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $1.37 billion. SoSoValue data shows net inflows of $606.3 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $220.8 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include Ethena, Bitcoin Cash and Pepe. Notable Developments:
Data Shows Bitcoin’s 20% 3-Day Rally Was Historic: Here’s What Happened After Comparable RalliesBitcoin, Ethereum 20% Rallies Are Proof to ‘Never Short a Dull Market,’ Investment Firm SaysStrategy Sits On $1.4 Billion Bitcoin Profit After 20% BTC Surge: What’s Next for MSTR?Bitcoin Taps $79,000, Up 20% Since Monday. So Why Should Bulls Be Careful?PURR Surges Above $10 as Analysts Tout Hyperliquid OutperformanceArthur Hayes Says ETH Can Hit $5,000 by Year-End, Risk-Reward Is Better Than for BTCTrader Notes:
Michael van de Poppe compared Bitcoin to the 2022 breakout, with a strong weekly candle following consolidation and a sweep of the lows.
He expects a push toward $83,000 and the 50-week moving average, though resistance there could trigger a correction and profit-taking.
Trader KillaXBT said Bitcoin may have already bottomed, arguing the recent decline could have been the capitulation candle.
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With Q4 sellers potentially front run after an early October peak, he expects Q4 buyers could also enter early, supporting a green next six-month candle.
Tony Edward highlighted Bitcoin is overbought with daily RSI above 70, raising the risk of a near-term pullback.
However, establishing support and securing a weekly close above the 200-day moving average could mark a major bullish shift and put bears under pressure.
Image: Shutterstock
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Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market got a taste of “not-QE” this week — and liked it.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 23% toward $79,000 and Ether’s price crossed $2,400 after the US Treasury moved to double certain long-dated bond buybacks, adding fuel to an increasingly important question for digital asset markets. If Washington keeps finding new ways to support liquidity without technically embarking on quantitative easing, could Bitcoin and other risk assets become some of the biggest beneficiaries?
That question is already shaping business decisions across crypto. Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin heading toward $100,000, Metaplanet is taking its Bitcoin treasury strategy to the US and Cypherpunk Technologies is making a $33 million bet on Zcash mining.
Standard Chartered analyst sees Bitcoin reaching $100,000 as Treasury buybacks expandStandard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick said Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by year-end as the US Treasury doubles long-end bond buybacks, a move he described as “exactly the type of thing Bitcoin loves.”
Kendrick said in a client note that BTC’s key technical level is $65,500 and breaking above it could confirm the cycle low is in. He cited Wednesday’s Treasury plan to at least double buyback operations for 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year coupons. Long-dated yields fell, and Bitcoin’s price immediately climbed more than 6% to nearly $69,000, its highest since early June, per CoinMarketCap.
The expanded program runs Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Kendrick argues Bitcoin tends to benefit from government liquidity interventions and its fixed supply resists monetary debasement. The call still depends on BTC holding above $65,500. Without that, the cycle low cannot be confirmed.
Metaplanet expands Bitcoin treasury strategy to US with Super League dealMetaplanet plans to take a controlling stake in Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise, expanding its Bitcoin treasury strategy to the US.
The Tokyo firm will contribute 2,100 BTC and $2.5 million in cash to Super League, which will be renamed Superplanet. That BTC, worth roughly $145 million, is under 5% of Metaplanet’s 43,000 holdings and comes from existing treasury, not new purchases. CEO Simon Gerovich said the structure gives two capital-raising avenues: Superplanet in US markets and Metaplanet in Japan. Shares of Super League surged over 50% on the news.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to shareholder approval and customary conditions.
Cypherpunk launches Zcash mining fleet controlling 18% of network hashrateCypherpunk Technologies is expanding into Zcash (ZEC) mining after acquiring a fleet from Winklevoss Capital in a $33.33 million equity deal, giving the publicly traded firm roughly 18% of the network’s hashrate.
The mining operation is already online at US facilities, producing about 4.2 GSol/s, or roughly 18% of Zcash’s current hashrate. Cypherpunk also holds 323,394 ZEC, about 1.9% of circulating supply, and targets 5% ownership. It has pitched Zcash mining as offering more attractive economics than Bitcoin mining or AI data center workloads.
However, those economics depend heavily on ZEC’s price, network hashrate, mining difficulty, and operating costs. The push follows a rally that saw the price of ZEC rise more than 1,300% over 12 months, though it has since corrected. The network implemented its Ironwood upgrade on July 28 to replace the Orchard pool after a flaw that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC creation, though no exploitation was ever detected.
CFTC seeks comment on AI compute futures as CME eyes October launchThe US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking public comment on futures contracts tied to AI computing capacity, a step that could shape an emerging market for trading and hedging the cost of computing power.
Bloomberg reported Monday that the regulator sent a request for comment to the White House Office of Management and Budget. CME Group announced last week it plans to launch two compute futures contracts on Oct. 5, pending regulatory approval, with Silicon Data providing the benchmarks. Estimates from TD Lombard, Goldman Sachs and Bridgewater Associates put AI infrastructure spending at roughly 2% to 2.5% of US GDP this year.
The review could complicate the timeline for planned compute products from CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange, which remain subject to regulatory approval. Once the White House review is complete, the CFTC is expected to open a comment period, typically lasting 30 or 60 days, according to Bloomberg.
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Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has again made a case for buying Bitcoin and gold as hedges against the looming U.S. debt crisis. His comments come as the U.S. debt crossed the $40 trillion mark earlier this week, with BTC rallying to nearly $80,000 for the first time since May.
Ray Dalio Says Buy Bitcoin and Gold as U.S. Debt Rises In an X post, Dalio reiterated his advice to buy BTC and gold to navigate the risk of rising U.S. debt. This came as he warned that rising debt is unsustainable and could soon reach levels the government can no longer manage.
“As general advice, I suggest diversifying well in asset classes and countries that have strong income statements and balance sheets and are not having great internal political and external geopolitical conflicts, underweighting debt assets like bonds, and overweighting gold and a bit of Bitcoin,” he said.
The billionaire investor further noted that holding 10% to 15% of one’s money in gold can reduce a portfolio’s risk. Dalio’s statement comes amid BTC’s recent rally towards $80,000 from as low as $63,000 earlier this week.
As CoinGape reported, Bitcoin rallied as the U.S. Treasury revealed plans to at least double its debt buyback after the 30-year yield rose to its highest level since 2007. On the same day, U.S. debt crossed $40 trillion, further fueling the rally as BTC jumped above the psychological $70,000 level.
U.S. Debt At An Inflection Point Ray Dalio said the government’s financial situation is at an inflection point because it could soon rise to levels where the government will be unable to manage it “without great trauma.” He also advised that the government should manage the situation now, while the economy is relatively strong, rather than when it is weak.
“That is because when the economy is in a contraction, the government’s borrowing needs increase a lot,” he explained. The investor also said that policies and exogenous factors, like major political shifts and wars, can hasten or delay a debt crisis.
The U.S.-Iran war continues to pressure the U.S. economy, with inflation rising as energy prices rise, which has, so far, put downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has pledged price stability even as the FOMC faces pressure to hike rates to curb rising inflation.
Notably, the odds of a Fed rate hike have climbed above 50% again amid the Treasury’s move to calm the bond market. Data from the top crypto prediction market platform Polymarket shows a 55% chance that the Fed will hike rates this year.
The U.S. Treasury stepped in to prop up long bonds, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ripped over 20%, Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) got punished on a beat and Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) delivered the biggest one-day rally in its history.
Bessent Steps In — Then The Market Steps BackTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent staged a rare intervention on Wednesday.
The 30-year Treasury yield had just hit 5.27%, a 19-year high, on a mix of concerns over the $40 trillion national debt, a fiscal 2026 deficit tracking above $1.8 trillion, and heavy AI-related corporate issuance.
Two weeks after publishing its buyback schedule, Treasury announced it would “at least double” its buybacks of 10- to 30-year debt.
Long-end yields collapsed on the news — the 30-year dropped nine basis points, the 10-year 5.7 basis points. The relief lasted less than 48 hours. By Friday, the 30-year was back to 5.25%, near pre-announcement levels.
JPMorgan called the move a “band-aid” without underlying fiscal consolidation. Evercore ISI flagged the risk of a “slippery slope” if Bessent starts trying to defend specific yield levels.
Bitcoin Storms HigherThe bond intervention delivered one clear beneficiary: crypto. Bitcoin surged from around $63,000 Monday to above $77,000 Friday morning — a roughly 23% weekly gain, its best week since 2023.
President Donald Trump‘s push for Congress to pass the Clarity Act added a regulatory tailwind, and $2.7 billion in bearish crypto bets got forcibly closed out — a record short squeeze that mechanically accelerated the move.
Walmart Sinks 9% On A Beat-And-RaiseWalmart Inc. delivered Q2 revenue of $187.9 billion (vs. $186.8 billion consensus) and adjusted EPS of $0.81 (vs. $0.74).
Global e-commerce grew 23%, advertising 38%, marketplace 52%.
Full-year FY27 guidance was raised: sales growth to 4-5% (from 3.5-4.5%), operating income to 7-8.5%, EPS to $2.80-$2.87.
The catch: a one-off $2.9 billion tariff refund inflated the print.
Underlying U.S. comps grew just 2.6%, and Q3 EPS guidance of $0.62-$0.64 landed below the $0.68 consensus. Shares fell 9.2% to $103.84, wiping out roughly $90 billion in market cap.
Business Growth Hits 52-Month HighThe S&P Global U.S. Flash Composite PMI jumped to 56.0 in August from 54.5 in July, the fastest pace of business activity growth since April 2022. Services surged to a 20-month high of 56.8, offsetting a slowdown in manufacturing output (51.9, a 13-month low).
‘U.S. business is booming,’ S&P Global chief economist Chris Williamson said.
The survey points to Q3 GDP growth “approaching 3.0%,” well above Q2’s 1.5% pace.
Top S&P 500 Weekly Gainers Moderna Inc. +134% — up 177% Wednesday alone, the biggest single-day gain in the stock’s history, after intismeran autogene — its Merck-partnered personalized mRNA melanoma vaccine — hit both primary and secondary endpoints in the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial (1,137 patients, stage IIB-IV melanoma). It was the first successful late-stage readout for any mRNA cancer therapy. Bank of America upgraded to Neutral and raised its price target from $40 to $170. Short sellers absorbed roughly $5.5 billion in losses. Shares gave back 20% Thursday on profit-taking, then rebounded 11.5% Friday. Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) +26% — the highest-liquidity crypto proxy on U.S. exchanges rode Bitcoin’s 23% weekly surge and mounting optimism around Clarity Act passage. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) +17% — Q4 revenue of $3.63 billion (+6.5% YoY) beat the $3.54 billion consensus. Adjusted EPS of $0.39 topped the $0.32 estimate. Management raised FY27 adjusted operating margin guidance to 12.7-13.5% (from 11.2% in FY26) and guided FY27 EPS to $3.10-$3.35, implying 24-34% growth. Fragrance grew 10% organically for the year; mainland China accelerated 12% in Q4. Photo: Shutterstock
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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MANTRA (MANTRA) slid to an all-time low of $0.0041 as the project froze its blockchain and said an attacker was targeting a vulnerability in an upstream dependency.
The record low came as the rest of the market climbed, extending a rally that accelerated on Wednesday.
Why MANTRA Halted Its ChainMANTRA Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain built for tokenizing real-world assets, was halted earlier today. Its initial notice said all endpoints and transactions were frozen.
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We're aware of an incident affecting MANTRA Chain and have halted the chain as a precaution while we investigate. All endpoints and transactions are currently frozen.
This means deposits and withdrawals to/from MANTRA Chain are temporarily affected. If you're unsure how this…
— MANTRA | The EVM L1 for RWAs (@MANTRA_Chain) August 21, 2026
A later update named the cause. The team pointed to an attacker exploiting a vulnerability in an upstream dependency, meaning third-party code the chain relies on rather than software it wrote itself.
“Earlier today, we detected an attacker exploiting a vulnerability in an upstream dependency used by the chain and halted the network as a precaution,” the update read.
MANTRA said it has identified the vulnerability and is now preparing a patch. Its validators and infrastructure remain offline until the upgrade is ready.
“Resuming the network will require a coordinated restart with the wider validator set — we will not resume until the patch is verified and that coordination is in place,” it added.
The team is also tracing where funds moved and has contacted exchange partners. Deposits and withdrawals remain paused at affected venues, and the total scope of the impact remains unconfirmed. The team also warned holders to ignore anyone offering recovery help.
MANTRA Misses a Market-Wide Rally The incident has also impacted the token. MANTRA changed hands at $0.0044 at press time, down 8.5% on the day.
MANTRA Token Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsThat slide ran against the broader market. Bitcoin (BTC) topped $75,000 earlier today as short liquidations reached $1.06 billion. Other major cryptocurrencies also traded higher, lifting the total crypto market capitalization by nearly 4% over the past day.
The incident marks the network’s second major crisis in 16 months. Its token, then known as OM, lost nearly 90% of its value in April 2025, wiping out about $5.5 billion in market value in less than an hour.
The project retired the OM ticker this March. A non-dilutive 1:4 split at block 13,000,000 converted each OM into four MANTRA, and the token posted a 37% launch-day rally.
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Bitcoin’s rapid move higher this week looks less like a fresh wave of spot conviction and more like a forced unwind in derivatives markets. That is the core warning from CryptoQuant analyst BorisD, who pointed to a sharp jump in Binance’s Short Squeeze indicator as the main fuel behind the rally in the original report.
The indicator climbed to 6.94, its highest level since November 2024. For traders, that number reflects a market where short positions are being forcefully closed, generating buy orders that push price higher regardless of underlying spot activity. BorisD said the move was dominated by liquidation-driven buying rather than genuine spot accumulation.
That distinction matters. Short squeezes can produce fast, aggressive upside, but they do not create the same kind of durable floor as spot demand. Once the forced buying exhausts itself, price becomes vulnerable to a retrace if organic buyers do not step in.
The danger is not that a short squeeze is illegitimate. It is that forced liquidation buys are price-insensitive. They execute because a position is being closed, not because a trader wants long exposure. That kind of flow can vanish quickly.
Why Binance Futures Matter for Price Discovery Binance remains the deepest venue for Bitcoin futures liquidity, so liquidation events there tend to spill across other exchanges. A short liquidation cascade forces traders and risk engines to buy back exposure, and that mechanical flow can temporarily overwhelm order books. The Short Squeeze indicator at 6.94 suggests this was not a mild unwind.
Liquidation cascades often cluster around a few price levels. When stops are triggered, they feed a loop of buying that clears out shorts and leaves fewer sell-side participants in the immediate term. But the same dynamic can reverse when the cascade ends and the order book thins.
Comparisons to November 2024 are useful because that period also featured a sudden repricing after a crowded short trade. But the setup is not identical. Market participants now have to decide whether spot buyers will absorb the move or simply wait for lower prices.
Leverage works both ways. The same futures structure that helped drive price higher can accelerate a reversal if momentum stalls and long liquidations begin. That is what makes the next few sessions important for short-term positioning.
Spot Demand Is the Real Test For the rally to hold, spot volume needs to take over from derivatives. On-chain flows, exchange inflows, and institutional spot buying become more relevant now than the liquidation data itself. Without that follow-through, the market is essentially running on borrowed demand.
Broader capital rotation has not been evenly distributed. Some altcoins have posted outsized weekly moves, as seen in the latest weekly gainers list, but Bitcoin-specific spot accumulation is a separate question.
Spot buyers tend to be slower to chase moves than leveraged traders. If the market cannot attract them near current levels, bids may appear lower, which is why BorisD flagged pullback risk rather than calling for immediate continuation.
At the same time, institutional interest in on-chain assets continues to evolve, including tokenized Treasury activity tracked in a recent tokenization roundup. That does not guarantee immediate Bitcoin spot demand, but it does show where deeper capital is moving across crypto market structure.
What Could Break the Pattern Regulatory uncertainty remains another variable. While US lawmakers debate the largest crypto market structure bill in years, spot participants may stay cautious even if futures traders are forced to chase price. The policy fight covered in the Senate vote coverage adds a layer of hesitation that derivatives data alone cannot capture.
That does not mean policy is the primary driver here. The immediate engine is clearly in Binance futures. But spot participants rarely commit fresh capital when the rules of market access are still being negotiated.
BorisD’s warning does not predict an immediate top. It simply identifies the engine behind the move. If spot demand remains thin, the same liquidation mechanics that pushed Bitcoin higher can reverse quickly. If spot buyers return, the squeeze could become a base for a more durable advance.
The next signal likely comes from spot volume trends and long positioning after the squeeze. Traders are already watching whether the market can hold gains without another liquidation impulse. That, more than the indicator itself, will determine if this is accumulation or just leverage clearing out.
AUTHOR
Brenda is a writer with three years of experience specializing in cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. She graduated from the University of Mombasa with a degree in Psychology. She has worked at Cryptopolitan and Blockchain Reporter.
Renowned macro analyst Lyn Alden on Thursday told CNBC the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) bottom is in by almost every metric, saying “the bull market is back in play.”
Why Alden Says the Bitcoin Bottom Is InBitcoin Historian Pete Rizzo flagged on X that Alden told CNBC the fast money is out, Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) will not be selling, and there are not many downside catalysts left.
She added that the Treasury and Fed will be moving toward financial repression, a backdrop she called bullish for Bitcoin.
What the Volatility Data ShowsReal Vision analyst Jamie Coutts posted on X that this week’s two-day Bitcoin move ranks as the fifth-largest since 2018 on a volatility-adjusted basis at 4.4 sigma, a reading that normal counter-trend rallies simply do not produce.
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The closest historical comparisons are the 2018 and 2019 cycle lows, both of which marked genuine inflection points rather than temporary bounces.
After moves of this size, Bitcoin has historically finished higher more than 70% of the time over the following 30 to 180 days
Moreover, he flagged a wall of overhead supply in the low $80,000 range as the key level Bitcoin needs to work through before the move extends further.
Why Bitcoin Is Flashing a Liquidity Warning SignalCoutts argued that Bitcoin is starting to function again as the earliest signal for where liquidity is heading.
The Treasury’s bond buyback move this week shifted a liquidity backdrop that was on the verge of going negative, pushing the dollar lower and pulling the yield curve with it.
The underlying debt supply problem has not been solved though, which means more intervention is likely coming down the road.
What The ETF Numbers ShowBitcoin ETFs pulled in $606.29 million on Aug. 20, led by BlackRock’s IBIT (NASDAQ:IBIT) with $502.99 million, the largest single-day inflow since May 1, according to SoSoValue.
Weekly inflows crossed $1.6 billion with one trading day still remaining, already the strongest week of 2026 and the highest since the week of October 10, 2025.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $76,325.13, up 8.9% over the past 24 hours and 19.3% over the past week, after a rapid rally carried the asset directly into a resistance zone flagged by chart analysts weeks in advance.
Resistance Zone Reached on Schedule
According to a technical breakdown shared by a chart analyst, Bitcoin’s move into the $76,638 to $79,485 range had been forecast roughly two months ago as the likely ceiling for the current bounce. The analyst said that reaching the target does not, by itself, signal a top, since price could still push higher before any pullback sets in.
Watching the Pace, Not Just the Price
The analyst said the speed of the rally, more than its size, caught much of the market off guard. Multiple catalysts hit at once, accelerating a move that technical structure had already been pointing toward. That combination is prompting closer scrutiny of whether the current strength is sustainable or due for a cooldown.
Key Levels to Watch
Two price zones now matter most, according to the analysis. A confirmed break below $70,510 would be the first real signal that upward momentum has stalled, potentially opening the door to a deeper pullback in the 5 to 10% range from recent highs. On the upside, $83,000, the market’s May high, remains the level that would shift the broader technical picture, opening the door to a more bullish longer-term scenario.
Not a Confirmed Trend Reversal
The analyst was careful to stress that reaching resistance does not confirm the broader downturn since earlier in the year is over. That determination, they said, is still premature, and markets by nature carry no certainty, only shifting probabilities based on how price behaves at these levels over the coming days.
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TLDR Bitcoin price rose 4.57% to trade near $72,500. Bitcoin ETFs saw one-day net inflows of $472.2 million. BTC broke above the $67,333 resistance level. Price moved above the 200-day EMA at $71,549.86. Open interest neared $51 billion during the rally. Bitcoin is trading at $72,500 today. That marks a 4.57% increase over the past 24 hours.
The rally follows a wave of new money moving into Bitcoin ETFs. Investors have been adding to their positions this week.
Bitcoin Price on CoinGecko On-chain tracker Lookonchain shared new flow numbers on X. The account posted: “1D NetFlow: +6,603 $BTC (+$472.2M).”
That single day of inflows added up to $472.2 million. It points to strong demand from ETF buyers.
Lookonchain also shared a longer-term update. The seven-day total came to 11,149 BTC, worth about $797.21 million.
This means ETF demand has stayed steady all week, not just in one session. Buyers have kept adding Bitcoin through the funds.
ETF Inflow Data From SoSoValue SoSoValue tracks Bitcoin ETF numbers too. Its data shows a $517.19 million net inflow on August 19.
Cumulative net inflows for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs now stand at $52.79 billion. Total net assets are $84.31 billion.
These figures come from all major Bitcoin ETF issuers combined. They give a full picture of how much money sits in these funds.
What The Bitcoin Chart Shows Bitcoin broke above the $67,333 resistance level during this move. The coin is now trading above its 20-, 50-, 100-, and 200-day EMAs.
The 200-day EMA sits at $71,549.86. The 100-day EMA is lower, at $66,552.56.
Trading volume rose during the breakout. Volume reached close to 31,520 BTC on the chart.
Bitcoin open interest is climbing as well. CoinGlass data shows open interest near $51 billion as BTC rallied toward $69,000 on August 20.
Rising open interest alongside a rising price usually means more traders are opening new positions. It can also mean bigger price swings if those positions get closed at once.
The $67,333 level is now the key support to watch. A break below it could point to a failed breakout.
The next support area under that sits at $62,975. Traders are watching whether Bitcoin can hold above $67,333 in the sessions ahead.
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Bitcoin has gained more than 30% in recent weeks, leaving investors anxiously wondering whether it is already too late to enter the market at current levels.
However, Galaxy Research analysts are reassuring those who fear they have missed out: the current rally may still be premature, while the real bull market will officially begin only after the price secures a close above $82,000.
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Bitcoin is currently trading in the $73,000–$77,500 range. The main reason for local optimism was the breakout above the 50-day moving average (MA), which was left behind at around $64,000. The market is celebrating the victory, but historical statistics are unforgiving: short-term indicators are too noisy.
Bitcoin price chart highlighting the 50-day and 50-week moving averages as key trend reversal indicators. Source: Galaxy ResearchThe experts studied every downturn cycle since 2011 and found that, out of 106 breakouts above the 50-day MA, exactly 43 turned out to be false. Bitcoin moved above the line and traded there for weeks — doing so as many as 13 times between 2013 and 2015 — before reversing and setting a new cycle low.
The only historically reliable marker of a long-term trend reversal is the 50-week moving average. Today, it stands at $82,470.
In 11 of the 13 completed bear-market cases in Bitcoin's history, securing a close above the 50-week MA meant that the cycle bottom was already behind it. Only two false signals were recorded over 15 years. Both occurred during the "double top" period in 2021–2022. Bitcoin briefly moved above the line before collapsing to $15,758.
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For those afraid of "missing the train," the analysts have good news: waiting for rock-solid confirmation is standard practice, and buying now is not necessary. The true signal that a crypto winter has ended always arrives with a significant delay.
During prolonged cycles, Bitcoin needed between 130 and 284 days after reaching its bottom to close a week above the 50-week line. By that point, the price had already risen 63%–80% from its lows — and by 237% in 2011.
By buying Bitcoin after this signal, an investor deliberately misses the first third of the rally but pays that price for confidence that the market has become genuinely bullish again.
What does this mean for the Bitcoin market today?Bitcoin rebounded from its June 30 low of $58,525 and gained 32.4%. The price now has only about 6.4% left to climb before reaching the crucial $82,000 test. The answer to whether it is too late to buy Bitcoin lies precisely here — entering the cryptocurrency now would still be premature.
The current momentum looks strong, but technically, the market remains in a borderline zone. Until a weekly candle closes above $82,470, the current surge risks becoming nothing more than a temporary pause within a prolonged downturn.
Has Jim Cramer done it again? Has he just kickstarted the next BTC bull market?
Bitcoin is on a roll, as we might have mentioned a few times in the past couple of days. But let’s recap quickly: BTC traded below $65,000 for weeks when all hell broke loose on Wednesday afternoon. Since then, the asset has skyrocketed by 25% and neared $80,000 earlier today for the first time in three months.
The obvious question on everyone’s mind is: Who is responsible for this spectacular rally? What’s the reason behind it? Well, after reviewing tons of online material, we have finally reached a definitive conclusion.
Did He Do It Again? Analysts, experts, market commentators, media websites, and our mothers: we have all speculated in the past 60 hours on what could be the driving force behind this mind-blowing surge to $80,000.
And our conclusion shows clearly: It’s not the US Treasury Department’s announcement, it’s not the major White House crypto meeting, it’s not Trump’s words that the US has to lead in crypto and might accumulate BTC, it’s not the renewed ETF inflows, it’s not the de-escalating war developments. None of those have the impact that the actual reason has. And that reason has a name: Jim Cramer.
Let’s rewind the clocks a few weeks. The man himself interviewed IBM CEO Arvind Krishna about the potential quantum threat and, after hearing Krishna’s argument, announced on national TV that he would sell his bitcoin.
“Arvind Krishna knows Bitcoin and quantum. And I am going to sell mine [Bitcoin].”
On the question of whether that was a sufficient reason to dispose of his crypto assets, Cramer justified his decision by explaining that IBM’s CEO is “the man” when it comes to quantum.
Examples I mean, how much clearer than that could it have been? The signs were all there. We were just too blind to listen and follow through. Cramer has all the right history, showing that whatever he says is the absolute truth, whether we know it or not yet. Oh, wait, it was the other way around.
You may also like: Bitcoin’s Price Approaches $80K, Millions Liquidated in Hours Bitcoin Eyes $74K After Rally as Analyst Flags $67K Support 1.15 Million Ethereum (ETH) Left Exchanges – And The Exodus Isn’t Slowing Just a few examples: he created a PARC basket in July 2025 as a solid portfolio and added Coinbase (COIN) to it. A year later, COIN was down by over 60%. In late 2022, just after BTC had tumbled below $17,000, he advised investors to sell all of their crypto holdings. He said XRP, DOGE, ADA, and MATIC were going to zero. Needless to say, that was the end of the bear market at the time. Oh, and none of those went to $0.
He has been so on-point with his major predictions that it has led to the creation of an “Inverse Cramer” X account that bets against all of his calls. That account has more than 1.4 million followers on X due to its success.
Disclaimer: Obviously, this was a humorous article. The actual (possible) reasons are listed above. But the reality is that something has changed in the market. Trading volumes are 3x higher than this time last week, prices have rocketed, and legacy traditional media is back to covering crypto. Hopefully, more good times are ahead. Unless Cramer buys more BTC and announces it on national TV, of course.
VanEck’s Head of Digital Asset Research Matthew Sigel reiterated on Thursday his $100,000 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price target for 2027, adding that $500,000 by 2029 is also plausible if the cycle “plays out as usual.”
Sigel Says BTC Surge Tied to Treasury MovesDuring an interview with CNBC, Sigel said that Bitcoin’s ongoing surge is not linked to the CLARITY Act, but entirely linked to the Treasury Department’s announcement that it would double its long-term bond buybacks.
Traders immediately read the move as inflationary and bullish for hard assets, sending yields lower and the dollar index lower.
“It is reigniting these fears of fiscal dominance,” Sigel said. “As the Treasury finances more of that debt on the short end, it hits the fiscal balance immediately. It makes keeping rates high increasingly expensive.”
Sigel said that the announcement has led the market to prIce in a “structurally weaker dollar, and Bitcoin is “one of the best hedges” for that dynamic.
Sigel Predicts $500,000 for Bitcoin in 2029When asked to comment on Bitcoin’s next moves, Sigel said he’s confident the cryptocurrency will hit $100,000 next year.
“It feels like if we get the real money stepping in, maybe we’ll go higher,” he added. “Long term, 2029, say we can hit $500,000 if the cycle plays out as usual.”
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Bitcoin Races Past $75,000Sigel’s predictions come amid a positive climate for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin surged past $75,000 for the first time in nearly three months.
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“Greed” sentiment prevailed in the market, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, while over $750 million in Bitcoin short positions were wiped out.
Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong sees the year-long cryptocurrency spot trading bear market finally nearing its end.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $75,369.72, up 8.66% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
WSJ: MicroCloud Hologram Inc. Announces Acquisition of 140,268 MSTR Shares Through Structured Note Investment Product, Continuing Its Strategic Investment in Bitcoin-Related Assets
Bitcoin treasury firm BSTR Holdings announced it has reached an agreement with Cantor Equity Partners to terminate the business combination agreement signed on July 16, 2025. The termination stems from persistent valuation pressure on Bitcoin and listed Bitcoin treasury companies amid the current market environment, which has created capital market mismatches and limited the amplifying effect of financing instruments such as convertible bonds and perpetual preferred stocks in Bitcoin treasury strategies. BSTR stated it will continue to advance its institutional-grade Bitcoin asset management business once the market environment stabilizes. (Businesswire)
Bitcoin surges to $76,945, snapping a year-long downtrend as ETF inflows hit $606.29 million on Thursday, the highest since May.Strategy returns to profit as its 840,447 BTC treasury value climbs above $64.6 billion.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubles long-term bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation, fueling the crypto rally.XRP jumps 18.03% to $1.37 as Korean traders rotate capital from Samsung and SK Hynix into crypto.CFTC Chairman Michael Selig warns the agency will regulate crypto independently if the Senate stalls the CLARITY Act.The crypto market is closing the working week of Aug. 21 with a powerful three-day rally that has finally pulled it out of its prolonged 2026 slumber. Instead of the usual dreary sideways movement, a giant green candle has appeared on Bitcoin's daily chart — the price on Bitstamp as per TradingView broke through the year-long downtrend and surged to $76,945, peaking at $79,461.
The main fuel came from large investors. Thursday's trading session ended with records for U.S. funds as per SoSoValue: net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs jumped to $606.29 million, the highest since May, while Ethereum ETFs attracted $220.77 million — their best result since last October.
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IBIT, BTC/USD, XRP/USD, and MSTR price performance as of August 21, 2026. Source: TradingView.This vertical rise over the past 24 hours created a real storm on derivatives exchanges, generating $1.51 billion in liquidations. First, the market completely wiped out the bears, forcibly closing $1.21 billion in short positions. However, as soon as the price found its peak, retail fear of missing out kicked in.
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Late traders began jumping into highly leveraged long positions, and a brief morning pullback immediately liquidated $37.43 million in speculative positions within just one hour.
While Bitcoin is storming new heights and bringing Strategy back into the game, a separate drama is unfolding among altcoins: Korean retail traders are trying to break through a historic "ceiling" that stopped the market a year ago.
Bitcoin news: Billion-dollar comeback — how Saylor outplayed the downturnThe main macroeconomic catalyst behind this three-day rally was an unexpected intervention by the U.S. Treasury.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the department was prepared to more than double the volume of long-term Treasury bond buybacks, raising the limit to at least $4 billion per operation. The Treasury took this step to inject liquidity into the turbulent debt market and push down long-term government bond yields.
For risk assets and the crypto market, this worked like a direct injection of rocket fuel — falling U.S. Treasury yields immediately weakened the dollar and forced large investors to urgently redirect liquidity into Bitcoin and the technology sector.
This liquidity tsunami completely revived Strategy's balance sheet. After a prolonged decline, during which Michael Saylor's company had to periodically lock in losses and sell coins at around $62,000–$64,000, its corporate portfolio finally returned to profit.
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This comeback brought the company more than $1 billion in unrealized profit relative to the recent bottom. According to BitcoinTreasuries.net, the company's balance sheet now shows the following metrics:
Reserve holdings: The company controls 840,447 BTC worth a total of $64.6 billion. Since the beginning of 2026, Strategy has acted extremely aggressively, increasing its reserves by 25% and purchasing another 167,950 BTC.Break-even point: Total investments reached $63.36 billion, bringing the average purchase price to $75,388.45. The spot price's move above this level has completely erased the previous panic-driven losses.Saylor's business may now be more resilient than ever. Its enterprise value has reached $64.9 billion, effectively backing every cent of MSTR's market capitalization with actual Bitcoin. At the same time, the company relies on a diversified Digital Credit debt stack totaling $13.27 billion, with its corporate bond issues trading at yields ranging from 10.28% to 14.01%.
The company's key debt instrument, STRC, is currently trading at $95.656. If the price returns to its $100 par value and the current discount of 4.344% closes, Strategy will be able to restart its borrowing program at full capacity and resume aggressive Bitcoin purchases on the open market.
Saylor also has around $4.80 billion in cash remaining. The main question for the weekend is whether he will put this cash to work immediately to push Bitcoin even higher.
On-chain data also indicates that the trend has changed decisively. CryptoQuant's Bitcoin Bull Score Index has returned to the green bullish zone for the first time since October 2025. The platform's CEO, Ki Young Ju, says the bearish phase is over and the global bottom has been passed.
This is also confirmed technically on the BTC chart: the price has left the 200-day moving average at $68,970 far behind, and this level now serves as the bulls' main stronghold.
Crypto market news: Korea's XRP surge, CFTC ultimatum and the great rotationAmong altcoins, XRP became the main newsmaker after gaining 18.03% in 24 hours to reach $1.37, extending its weekly rally to 38%. The price has moved directly against the purple line at $1.3702 — the peak recorded on Oct. 10, 2025.
That day is known as "Black Friday" because it was indeed a Friday and marked the starting point of the prolonged 2026 decline. XRP is now trying to break this curse by storming the 23-period SMA resistance at $1.4242, supported by the 200-period SMA "floor" at $1.2286.
Upbit spot market dashboard showing XRP/KRW trading volume outstripping BTC/KRW on August 21, 2026. Source: CoinGecko.The fact that South Korea is behind this surge is suggested by trading volumes on Upbit, which jumped 250% to $1.8 billion. XRP became the exchange's most-traded asset with $546.56 million in volume, overtaking Bitcoin.
Local retail investors orchestrated a massive capital rotation — they sold shares of technology giants Samsung and SK Hynix on the KOSPI, where they had remained throughout the crypto market's dormant period, and redirected the cash into crypto.
Interest was additionally fueled by Ripple and Clearpool's announcement of private lending on the XRP Ledger.
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Washington also turned up the heat. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig issued a firm ultimatum: if the Senate continues delaying passage of the CLARITY Act, the agency will begin regulating crypto on its own.
The CFTC is already preparing margin trading rules for U.S. exchanges and legal protections for DeFi. In what became the biggest surprise, the agency is also working with the Department of Commerce to tokenize GPU computing power and turn it into a digital commodity. Against this backdrop, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance token FET immediately jumped 19.55%, while Ethena's ENA soared 39.47% due to rising futures funding rates.
However, there is a hidden land mine beneath this celebration. CoinGlass data shows that the three-day pump has completely liquidated short sellers, destroying $4.36 billion in positions over 72 hours. Almost no bears remain in the market, leaving the futures market critically one-sided. Bitcoin's daily RSI has entered an extremely overheated zone at 84.80.
Any major profit-taking by large investors could now trigger an avalanche of forced position closures:
Threat to BTC: A technical price pullback toward $65,900 would automatically wipe out $5.71 billion in overleveraged long positions.Threat to ETH: A local Ethereum correction toward $2,090 would immediately destroy another $2.15 billion in buyer positions.The main marker for the long-term trend will be the Senate's procedural vote on the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15. Until then, the market faces three weeks of intense fighting across overheated futures markets.
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Tether, the company behind the world’s most traded stablecoin, has ended its $120 million Bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay after a prolonged dispute with the country’s state electricity provider. The withdrawal signals both major financial losses for Tether and a shift in regional mining ambitions.
Electricity dispute forces closureTether launched its Uruguay Bitcoin mining initiative in 2023, citing the nation’s renewable energy potential, stable political environment, and reliable grid as key factors for selecting the location. The company established two mining sites in Uruguay’s Florida department. Each required an estimated $60 million investment and together represented one of Tether’s largest early moves in South American mining.
However, as mining operations ramped up, conflicts emerged over electricity supply allowances. Tether believed its agreement with the state-run utility UTE allowed for scalable power supplies, while UTE insisted the contract strictly capped power delivery to the Microfin-operated sites, Tether’s local partner. As the facilities sought more electricity to meet rising mining demands, UTE refused, leaving the operations unable to sustain full productivity.
Internal documents show the dispute intensified by November 2024, leading to extended periods of insufficient power. Production suffered, and the sites became increasingly unprofitable as a result.
Failed negotiations and contract terminationNegotiations between Microfin and UTE escalated following a government change in March 2025. With new leadership at UTE, the electricity provider adopted a firm stance, resisting amendments to the original agreement. Microfin eventually stopped paying electricity bills and notified UTE of its intention to terminate existing contracts. Efforts to salvage the venture through a renegotiated agreement and a memorandum of understanding collapsed when Tether representatives declined to attend the contract signing.
On July 25, UTE cut power to the mining sites after payments lapsed and no new deal was reached. Microfin then informed labor authorities of plans to cease mining activities and lay off staff. Outstanding debts to UTE were settled later in December, but the facilities never resumed operations.
Tether’s efforts to expand its mining presence in South America have been set back by regulatory challenges and unfavorable energy economics in Uruguay, with lasting implications for its regional ambitions.
Shifts in Bitcoin mining economicsTether viewed Uruguay as a strategic entry point for broader mining expansion into the continent, including future projects in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The company highlighted Uruguay’s predominantly renewable energy mix and robust infrastructure as strengths, aiming to refine its operational model before scaling to neighboring countries.
Yet, rising electricity costs and stricter supply contracts have diminished Uruguay’s appeal for Bitcoin mining, especially after Bitcoin’s April 2024 halving event reduced block rewards and squeezed profit margins. Declining crypto market valuations and increasing operational expenses have further impacted miners worldwide.
Despite the setbacks in Uruguay, Tether continues to invest in mining, renewable energy ventures, and software platforms. The company has shifted its focus to new mining operations in Brazil and released open-source tools for mining management. Some mining companies are also moving infrastructure to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing as Bitcoin mining profitability declines.
Mini dictionary: Tether, a company based in the British Virgin Islands, is the issuer of USDT—the most widely used stablecoin in global crypto markets. The firm is a major player in digital asset infrastructure and has recently expanded into energy and mining sectors.
CountryMining CostsMajor Energy SourceUruguayHigher (post-2024)Renewable (wind, solar, hydro)BrazilLower potentialMixed (renewable, hydro)ParaguayLowerHydroelectricDisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Crypto analyst Rekt Capital has released a technical chart analysis of Bitcoin, noting that the leading cryptocurrency is facing resistance from a macro downtrend line that aligns with the 21-month Exponential Moving Average (EMA). According to Rekt Capital, if Bitcoin stalls at this resistance zone, it could find support at the 50-month EMA (marked in purple). Overall, Bitcoin needs to re-establish these two macro EMAs as new support levels and break through the macro downtrend line to confirm the start of a new bull market. Rekt Capital is a veteran crypto technical analyst boasting 560,000 followers on X.
Bitcoin (BTC) has staged one of its strongest rallies of 2026, surging to briefly surpass the $79,000 mark before settling around $77,900. According to CoinGecko data, BTC has climbed 8.8% in the last 24 hours and 24% over the past week, significantly outpacing recent gains in the US stock market.
Trump’s statement boosts Bitcoin rallyThe sharp uptick in Bitcoin’s price appears closely tied to a recent White House event focused on cryptocurrency. US President Donald Trump hosted key figures from the digital asset sector, including the CEOs and founders of prominent crypto platforms and companies.
During the event, Trump stated that his administration is considering a substantial purchase of Bitcoin and other digital assets for US reserves. The President’s message appears to have sparked a wave of optimism among investors and traders, contributing to the rapid rise in BTC’s value.
Bitcoin’s weekly performance stands in stark contrast to traditional equity markets. While BTC has rallied over 20% in just five days and erased three months of losses, historical data show that the S&P 500 typically returns about 10% annually.
AssetPeriodPerformanceBitcoinPast week+24%S&P 500Annually (historical average)+10%Coin Bureau, a popular crypto analysis platform, commented on the sharp price move:
Bitcoin is moving 140 times faster than the stock market, surging over 20% in less than five days from about $63,000 to above $77,000. By comparison, the S&P 500’s historical annual return is roughly 10%.
Potential risks ahead for Bitcoin investorsDespite the bullish momentum, several potential risks remain. Analysts note that if the US government does not proceed with President Trump’s hinted acquisition of significant Bitcoin reserves, current positive sentiment could reverse.
Broader economic forces may also impact the market. Inflation levels in the US remain well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. If inflation stays elevated and the Fed responds by raising interest rates, riskier assets like Bitcoin could face a wave of selling pressure as investors shift to more stable investments.
Bitcoin, created in 2009, remains the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and is widely viewed as both a speculative investment and a potential store of value.
Mini dictionary: Coin Bureau – A leading cryptocurrency analysis and educational media platform known for providing market updates, insights, and research to the crypto community.
Several industry observers caution that the sustainability of the recent rally may depend on further policy signals from the White House and the direction of macroeconomic trends in the weeks ahead.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Bitcoin (BTC) gained more than 20% in five days, delivering the stock market’s average annual return about 140 times faster. The run then stalled at $79,500, just 0.6% short of $80,000.
BTC traded near $76,750 on Friday, up 6.6% on the day. That leaves $80,000 about 4% away. The daily relative strength index (RSI) sits at 84.64, its highest reading of 2026.
How Bitcoin Outran the Stock Market by 140 TimesThe math is simple. Since 1928 the S&P 500 has compounded at 10.02% a year, dividends included, per New York University’s Stern School dataset.
Spread across five days, that yearly gain works out to 0.137%. Bitcoin did 20% in the same window. Call it 140 times the pace.
Low to high, the run reached 27%. BTC is heading for its strongest weekly close in two years.
Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoSpeed is not recovery. BTC still trades 39% below its record $126,080, set in October 2025.
Washington lit the fuse. The Treasury said on August 19 it would at least double its long-end bond buybacks, from $2 billion per operation to $4 billion.
The purchases cover 10-year to 30-year debt and run from September 9 through November 4. Long yields had just touched 20-year highs. Bond desks read it as a backstop.
Leverage did the rest. Bearish traders lost $1.06 billion in a day as short positions unwound.
Spot buyers showed up too. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) took $517.2 million on August 19, then $606.3 million on August 20. That was August’s biggest day, per Farside Investors.
Three Resistance Layers Block Bitcoin’s Path to $80,000Friday’s candle opened at $73,027 and ran to $79,500. Then sellers took over. That high hit the rising trendline drawn off February’s lows. Bitcoin climbed it all spring. June’s slide to $58,000 broke it.
Friday’s rally returned to the line from below and failed. Old support now works as resistance.
Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: TradingViewTwo more walls sit in the same pocket. A shelf at $79,427 capped May’s high. The round $80,000 sits just above.
Bitcoin’s current price has to clear all three. Support starts at Friday’s $73,027 open.
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Weekend Odds Favor Digestion Over a BreakoutJamie Coutts of Helios Analytics weighed the jump against how calm the market had been. It ranks fifth since 2018.
What is the medium- to long-term read on this week's $BTC rally? Firstly, anyone drawing a trend line will notice a break in the downtrend on the daily chart. But what does the magnitude of the move tell us? Once you volatility-adjust the move (Bitcoin has been in a structural… pic.twitter.com/gVU7X0TxOc
— Jamie Coutts CMT (@Jamie1Coutts) August 21, 2026 He found 14 comparable moves. Bitcoin sat higher 71% of the time 30 and 90 days later. The median gain was near 10%. A random day since 2018 returned 1.2%.
The extremes run wide. A similar jump in April 2019 led to a 118.7% gain over 90 days. One in October 2019 led to a 23% drop in 30.
Coutts calls 14 examples a thin sample. His own significance tests came back short of proof.
His table prices the pain too. In the median case BTC dipped 8.4% below entry within 90 days.
Medium- to long-term read on this week’s BTC rally. Source: Jamie Coutts
“There is a wall of overhead supply at the low $80k range it needs to work through,” wrote Coutts, chartered market technician at Helios Analytics.
On-chain data leans the other way. CryptoQuant shows spot and futures demand positive together for the first time since October 2025.
A separate quicktake ties the bounce to MVRV, which compares price with what holders paid.
Analyst Darkfost put net new demand at a 2026 high of 25,000 BTC. That weighs new coins against coins idle over a year.
Bitcoin MVRV Ratio. Source: CryptoQuant “BTC looking strong here. Rallies like this in bear markets usually signal the bottom is in. Might see a dip, but the bear phase is pretty much done imo,” said Ki Young Ju, founder and chief executive of CryptoQuant.
So can Bitcoin reach $80,000 this weekend? Possible, but not likely.
Weekend books run thin. Fewer large buyers trade Saturday and Sunday. Clearing three walls with RSI at 84.64 (overbought) takes size.
A slide back toward $73,000 would cool that reading without wrecking the week. Bitcoin’s longer-term outlook now rests on whether the low $80,000s give way.
Upbit’s trading activity surged sharply as Bitcoin’s latest rally brought South Korean crypto traders back into the market.
CoinGecko exchange data showed Upbit’s 24-hour trading volume rising 273% to roughly $1.84 billion on August 21. The move marked the exchange’s strongest daily volume since mid-March 2026, with XRP standing out as one of the largest traded assets at around $418.9 million in volume.
That is a sharp move for one of Asia’s most important crypto exchanges.
South Korea has always been a highly active crypto market, but local participation tends to come in waves. When Bitcoin rallies and retail appetite improves, volume on exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb can rise quickly. When sentiment fades, local activity can cool just as fast.
So the volume spike matters, but it needs careful framing.
This does not prove that South Korea’s crypto market has permanently recovered. It does show that traders there are responding quickly to renewed Bitcoin strength.
TL;DR Upbit’s 24-hour trading volume rose 273% to about $1.84 billion. The exchange recorded its highest daily volume since mid-March 2026. XRP was one of the standout assets, with roughly $418.9 million in volume. Why Upbit Matters Upbit is one of the most influential crypto exchanges in South Korea.
When local trading volume spikes there, it can say something about regional risk appetite. South Korean traders have often played a major role in altcoin liquidity, momentum trades, and retail-driven crypto cycles.
That makes Upbit volume useful as a sentiment signal.
A 273% jump does not mean all of Asia is suddenly in full bull mode, but it does show that local traders were far more active than they had been in the prior session. When that kind of move happens alongside a Bitcoin rally, traders tend to ask whether retail participation is widening again.
That is the key question here.
Bitcoin Still Drives The Broader Market Mood Even though XRP was a major contributor to volume, Bitcoin remains the broad market driver.
When BTC moves strongly, it often changes the mood across exchanges. Traders become more willing to rotate into larger altcoins, derivatives activity rises, and local spot markets can see renewed depth.
That appears to be part of the Upbit story.
Bitcoin’s rally gave traders a reason to return. Once participation increased, volume flowed into other major assets as well. XRP’s large volume share shows that local demand was not limited to BTC alone.
This is common in South Korea, where altcoin trading can become highly active during risk-on periods.
Volume Is Not The Same As Long-Term Demand The caution is that exchange volume can be noisy.
A single-session volume spike may reflect short-term momentum, arbitrage, leverage, exchange promotions, news-driven activity, or local trader enthusiasm. It does not automatically translate into steady long-term demand.
That is why follow-through matters.
If Upbit volume remains elevated over several sessions, the signal becomes stronger. If volume falls back quickly after the Bitcoin move cools, the August 21 spike may look more like a burst of reactive trading.
For now, the best read is that Korean traders came back quickly when the market gave them a reason.
Korea Remains A Market To Watch South Korea’s role in crypto is larger than its population size would suggest.
The country has active retail investors, strong exchange infrastructure, and a long history of influencing altcoin liquidity. When Korean volumes rise, global traders notice.
This can be especially important during rallies because regional activity can reinforce momentum.
If Bitcoin continues to hold higher levels and Korean exchange volume stays strong, traders may treat the move as evidence that retail interest is widening beyond US ETF flows and institutional headlines.
That would be meaningful.
The Clean Read Upbit’s 273% volume jump is a strong short-term signal.
It shows that South Korean traders are responding to Bitcoin’s latest rally, with activity spreading into high-volume assets like XRP. It also shows that regional spot markets can still wake up quickly when momentum returns.
But the market needs more than one session.
The next test is whether volume holds, whether Bithumb shows similar strength, and whether Bitcoin’s rally continues to support broader risk appetite.
For now, Upbit is back on traders’ screens — and that alone says something about how quickly crypto sentiment can turn.
This article is based on public CoinGecko exchange-volume data.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Quick Summary Ross Stores climbed as much as 9% before the opening bell following better-than-expected Q2 results and an upgraded full-year forecast Cryptocurrency-related equities including Coinbase, Robinhood, and Strategy rallied after Trump urged lawmakers to advance the Clarity Act Strategy reported a shift to $1.4B in unrealized profits on Bitcoin as the digital currency surged toward $78,500 Moderna bounced back 4% following Thursday’s 24% decline, which came after earlier triple-digit rallies linked to cancer vaccine developments OSI Systems, Aveanna Healthcare, and Flowers Foods experienced significant drops due to disappointing financials or share dilution announcements Equity futures moved modestly higher Friday morning as traders attempted to bounce back from Thursday’s aggressive selling. A decline in U.S. Treasury yields provided some relief to market participants, although concerns persisted with Brent crude hovering around the $93 per barrel mark.
Ross Stores emerged as a clear winner in early trading, climbing between 8.5% and 9%. The discount apparel chain posted second-quarter revenue of $6.3 billion, representing a 14% increase from the same period last year. Same-store sales advanced 10%, while earnings per share reached $2.66.
Ross Stores, Inc., ROST
The quarterly figures benefited from a $253 million tariff reimbursement through the IEEPA initiative, which bolstered profitability. Management elevated its annual EPS projection to a range of $8.61 to $8.77, compared to the prior forecast of $7.50 to $7.74. Ross also announced intentions to launch 115 new locations in 2026, exceeding earlier expansion targets.
Cryptocurrency Equities Gain Ground on Legislative Progress Coinbase increased 5.6%, Robinhood pushed up 5.3%, and Strategy advanced 10% in premarket action. These three names have experienced upward pressure throughout the week following President Donald Trump’s public push for congressional approval of the Clarity Act, legislation aimed at establishing clearer crypto regulations.
Strategy’s price appreciation was further supported by Bitcoin’s impressive performance. The leading cryptocurrency advanced nearly 22% across five consecutive sessions, reaching approximately $78,500. This rally transformed Strategy’s Bitcoin portfolio from substantial losses into an estimated unrealized profit of $1.4 billion.
Just months ago in July, when Bitcoin traded at $58,000, Strategy was carrying unrealized losses exceeding $13 billion. Friday’s position represents a dramatic reversal from that challenging period.
Moderna Finds Stability Following Turbulent Trading Moderna stock advanced 4% Friday morning after plunging 24% during Thursday’s session. The previous day’s selloff occurred as traders took profits following the stock’s explosive rally earlier in the week, which was triggered by encouraging clinical trial data for a customized cancer vaccine created in partnership with Merck.
OSI Systems declined 14% after announcing fourth-quarter revenue of $484.1 million, representing a 4.1% year-over-year decrease and falling approximately $45.6 million short of analyst projections. The company’s fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $1.875 to $1.93 billion also trailed the $1.94 billion consensus expectation.
Aveanna Healthcare Holdings tumbled 9% following news that current shareholders had priced a secondary offering of 15 million shares at $11.75 each. The company emphasized that it is not selling new shares and will receive no funds from the transaction.
Flowers Foods retreated 5% after second-quarter sales totaled $1.19 billion, missing projections by $40 million. Management also reduced both revenue and earnings guidance for the full year to levels below analyst expectations.
Heading into Friday’s opening, markets showed signs of a cautious rebound, with cryptocurrency-adjacent equities and impressive quarterly results from Ross Stores delivering the session’s most notable positive catalysts.
Arthur Hayes: Ethereum has significant room for a catch-up rally; once it breaks through $3,000, the next target is $5,000.
Arthur Hayes told Laura Shin during a podcast appearance that ETH is one of the most despised large-cap altcoins in the market. As the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, it has yet to break through its 2021 all-time high. From a risk-reward standpoint, at least in how he manages portfolios at Maelstrom, ETH is currently his largest position outside of Bitcoin. “I’m not particularly worried about waking up one day to find ETH has gone to zero. Of course, that scenario could occur, but that risk is far lower compared to other cryptocurrencies, so I’m very comfortable allocating a large position to this trade. Since it has not rallied much in this cycle, I believe it has significant catch-up upside. Once it starts moving higher, the reflexive momentum train will kick in. There are so many people who want to go long ETH for various reasons, and there were very valid justifications for why they didn’t do so in past years,” Hayes noted. He added: “Once we break through the $3,000 level, I think you will truly see ETH’s rally get underway, and it could quickly surpass $5,000. My year-end target is within reach.”
9 minutes ago
Multiple crypto-related stocks rose more than 10% intraday, while the AI sector remained unmoved.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), multiple crypto-related stocks extended their rally after the US stock market opened, surging over 10% intraday: GEMI rose 10.03%, HOOD gained 12.98%, CRCL climbed 9.25%, and COIN increased 9.6%. The AI sector was relatively muted today with mixed performances. Storage stock SanDisk fell 0.34%, NeoCloud’s stock NBIS rose 2.78%, US-listed SK Hynix gained 1.85%, and optical communication concept stock LITE climbed 2.01%.
9 minutes ago
In August, the U.S. S&P Global Manufacturing PMI came in lower than expected, while the Services PMI exceeded expectations.
The preliminary S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for the US in August came in at 53.2, against expectations of 53.9 and a prior reading of 53.9. The preliminary S&P Global Services PMI for the US in August stood at 56.8, compared with forecasts of 54 and a previous figure of 54.6.
9 minutes ago
Peter Brandt: Bitcoin has shifted to a valid bottom pattern, and he bought when it broke out.
Famous trader and chart analyst Peter Brandt, who accurately predicted the 2018 Bitcoin crash, posted yesterday that Bitcoin originally formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern and was in an overall downtrend, leading him to be bearish. However, the recent sharp rally has fully shifted Bitcoin’s pattern into a valid bottom. Brandt bluntly stated he “bought at the breakout, for better or worse.” On July 20, Peter Brandt noted that he expects Bitcoin’s current market cycle to bottom on October 4, 2026, and believes returns from investing in Bitcoin over the next two to three years may outperform those from AI stocks.
9 minutes ago
HYPE breaks through $77, approaching its all-time high.
According to HTX market data, HYPE has broken through $77, currently trading at $77.02, approaching its all-time high.
9 minutes ago
US stocks opened higher, with cryptocurrency-related stocks rallying broadly, and HYPE Treasury Company surging over 9%.
US stock market opens: Dow Jones up 0.5%, S&P 500 up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 0.4%. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), tech stocks posted gains: Micron Technology rose 1%, with its CEO stating current customer demand exceeds the company’s supply by roughly 50%. Broadcom climbed 1.6% as the firm seeks over $60 billion in debt financing to provide chip infrastructure for AI enterprises. Crypto-related stocks rallied broadly, led by HYPE Treasury’s PURR, which surged over 9% at open. MSTR gained 4.08%, BMNR rose 2.13%, COIN up 5.52%, and CRCL up 6.35%.
Famous trader and chart analyst Peter Brandt, who accurately predicted the 2018 Bitcoin crash, posted yesterday that Bitcoin originally formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern and was in an overall downtrend, leading him to be bearish. However, the recent sharp rally has fully shifted Bitcoin’s pattern into a valid bottom. Brandt bluntly stated he “bought at the breakout, for better or worse.” On July 20, Peter Brandt noted that he expects Bitcoin’s current market cycle to bottom on October 4, 2026, and believes returns from investing in Bitcoin over the next two to three years may outperform those from AI stocks.
The entire cryptocurrency market, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum, is experiencing a major surge. Bitcoin (BTC) has surpassed the $75,000 level for the first time in months, but some analysts say the current rise is excessive.
Several factors are believed to have contributed to the rise in Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, including the US Treasury Department’s decision to increase long-term bond buybacks, the SEC’s new cryptocurrency regulation proposal, and Trump’s meeting with leading figures in the crypto sector. This increased market optimism is said to have led to the liquidation of over $2.75 billion in Bitcoin short positions, accelerating the upward trend.
Analysts Approach Bitcoin Rise Cautiously! However, some analysts are expressing doubts about the sustainability of the current rally. Speaking to The Block, Sean Young, a senior analyst at MEXC Research, stated that he is attaching too much importance to the US Treasury Department’s intervention. Young notes that the development only accelerated short liquidations, did not change Bitcoin’s fundamental macroeconomic conditions, and that it is too early to say that a move above $70,000 signals a lasting bull trend.
“…Movements in Treasury yields only led to the rapid liquidation of short positions; they did not improve Bitcoin’s macroeconomic conditions themselves.”
Zeus Research analyst Dominic John was also among those who approached the rally cautiously. The analyst stated that short position liquidations supported the rise in the short term, but that the rally needed to be sustained by continued new capital inflows, spot demand, liquidity, and strong macroeconomic conditions. John added that if the CLARITY Act progresses in September, the rise could transform into more permanent market growth.
One of those approaching the rise cautiously is Bloomberg Intelligence commodities strategist Mike McGlone. McGlone believes that the rise in Bitcoin may not be a permanent trend change, but rather a temporary bounce within a bear market. He points to high volatility, correlation with stocks, and oversupply in the crypto market as increasing risks, predicting that Bitcoin could decline by the end of the year.
While McGlone supports blockchain technology, he argues that Bitcoin’s original purpose as a peer-to-peer cash service has been weakened by the emergence of cryptocurrency alternatives.
Is There Hope for an Uptrend? In contrast, crypto asset manager 21Shares stated in its latest analysis that selling pressure on Bitcoin has almost reached its lowest levels.
Company analysts noted that the Bitcoin Seller Exhaustion indicator is currently at around 0.007, which is the lowest point in all daily measurements since 2010.
Analysts also note that this indicator has reached this level 11 times before, and in all 11 historical cases, Bitcoin reached higher levels a year later. The median return after one year was also stated to be 155%.
However, 21Shares analysts specifically emphasize that this indicator does not definitively show that Bitcoin has bottomed out, warning that short-term declines have occurred following similar signals in the past, and that similar declines are still possible in the current situation.
*This is not investment advice.
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Following an 8.9% increase over the previous day, Bitcoin [BTC] was trading at $76,522.29, finally breaking through the long-tested resistance level of $70,000.
Given the current price action, Bitcoin is currently facing a record-breaking, largest profit-taking UTXO movement in history, as reported by CryptoQuant.
At the same time, BTC is getting closer to a critical resistance zone where many recent buyers will finally have a chance to exit at breakeven.
However, this does not mean that those coins are being sold, as there is still room for bearish pressure. For context, an Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) is a portion of Bitcoin that was acquired during a transaction but hasn’t been used yet.
Source: CryptoQuant Does this mean BTC has recovered completely? So, as per the chart, BTC’s profit-taking activity has surpassed a previous peak that coincided with Bitcoin’s most recent all-time high at $76k.
Back then, holders had a strong incentive to lock in profits when Bitcoin was close to an ATH because they had accumulated significant unrealized gains.
However, the current scenario is different because Bitcoin isn’t necessarily at a similarly euphoric market peak, last seen in October 2025.
In fact, in the current scenario, BTC is rebounding from a time when many short-term investors were in a bearish slump. Therefore, the current scenario is more like risk reduction rather than big profit-taking.
Adding more to the ongoing situation, CryptoQuant noted,
The all-time surge in profit-taking UTXO activity suggests that this sense of relief is already activating potentially movable supply.
Are investors still underwater? However, for this momentum to sustain, the realized price of the Short-Term Holder (STH) is important to consider.
Hence, investors who were previously underwater now have a chance to pull out around breakeven as Bitcoin gets closer to this level, which could result in a sizable supply wall.
Now, whether buyers can absorb this supply is the crucial question. The recovery might get stronger if high demand absorbs the selling and Bitcoin stays at or above the STH realized price.
But the realized STH price may turn into resistance and lead to another drop if sellers outnumber buyers.
BTC price action and more This comes on the heels of Bitcoin’s MVRV (Market Value to Realized Value) ratio standing at 1.38 at press time, meaning Bitcoin’s market value was roughly 38% higher than its realized value.
Source: CryptoQuant This indicates that unrealized profits have rapidly increased throughout the market thanks to the price recovery. However, the SOPR below 1 at 0.7 still indicates that the market is not effectively absorbing profit-taking, urging caution.
Source: CryptoQuant Final Summary Despite Bitcoin’s 9% jump in the price action, there is still room for bearish pressure. The MVRV ratio suggests profit, but SOPR below 1 suggests caution.
The US government’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is looking more like a trophy case than a war chest. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has said she does not expect Washington to make any open-market Bitcoin purchases before the end of President Donald Trump’s current term.
That view is grounded in how the reserve was actually built. The executive order establishing it, signed on March 6, 2025, explicitly limits the reserve to Bitcoin seized or forfeited through criminal and civil asset proceedings. No taxpayer money goes in. No market orders get placed.
What the reserve actually is The US holds a substantial amount of Bitcoin accumulated through law enforcement actions, and the executive order simply formalizes the decision to keep it rather than sell it.
The order also prohibits the government from selling its holdings, which creates an interesting one-way door. Bitcoin goes in when courts rule against defendants. It does not come back out.
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As of mid-2026, no additional Bitcoin has been acquired through any purchase mechanism, and the administrative focus has stayed on building the legal and custodial infrastructure needed to manage existing holdings. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has voiced support for Bitcoin as a strategic asset but has stopped well short of announcing any acquisition plans.
Administration officials have privately acknowledged the reserve’s limited scale, describing its current importance as largely symbolic.
Why Chen’s read matters Gracy Chen runs one of the larger centralized crypto exchanges by trading volume. Her skepticism about near-term purchases aligns with what the executive order’s text actually says, rather than what Bitcoin advocates hoped it might eventually enable.
When the executive order dropped in March 2025, some corners of the crypto market priced in the possibility that government purchasing would follow. It has not.
Chen’s comment that purchases are unlikely before Trump’s term ends resets that expectation more explicitly. The term concludes in January 2029, and the implication is that even within a four-year window friendly to Bitcoin, the structural constraints of the current order make large-scale acquisition a low-probability event.
Open-market purchases would require Congressional authorization, budget allocation, and a public debate about using taxpayer funds to buy a volatile digital asset. None of those conversations have gained serious legislative traction.
What this means for the market The prohibition on sales does remove some supply-side uncertainty. Bitcoin held in the reserve stays there, reducing the risk that a future administration could liquidate holdings and depress prices.
Several proposals have circulated on Capitol Hill that would authorize direct purchases, funded through mechanisms that avoid direct taxpayer exposure. None have cleared committee as of mid-2026.
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