Bitcoin surged past $68,000 and Ether jumped 9% on Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double its long-dated bond buybacks, a move that forced $1.91 billion of leveraged crypto positions to close. Short sellers absorbed $1.74 billion of that total, roughly eight times the liquidations recorded over the prior 24 hours.
Bitcoin traded above $68,000 and Ether gained 9% on Wednesday, forcing $1.91 billion of leveraged positions to close, according to Coinglass data cited by The Defiant. Short positions made up $1.74 billion of that total, roughly eight times the volume of liquidations recorded over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin last changed hands at $68,605, up 5.8% over 24 hours, while XRP added 6.9% and Solana rose 6.5%.
Treasury's buyback move triggers the squeeze
The rally traces back to the bond market. The Treasury said Wednesday morning it will at least double the size of its buybacks of long-dated debt, reversing a selloff that had pushed the 30-year yield to its highest daily close since June 2007. Bitcoin had traded between roughly $59,000 and $67,000 for seven weeks, and positioning was heavily short into the break.
Crypto lagged the bond market's reaction. Bitcoin was still near $64,989 two and a half hours after the announcement. The move then accelerated between 11 a.m. and noon ET, when the price climbed from $65,888 to $68,529.
Shorts pay the price
The short squeeze hit levered traders hard: $1.78 billion of the total closed within a four-hour window, and 122,893 traders were liquidated, including a $48.8 million bitcoin position on Hyperliquid, the largest single order. Bitcoin and Ether together accounted for roughly 85% of all crypto liquidations during the move, according to AMBCrypto.
Market cap edges back toward $2.3 trillion
The broader recovery pushed the total crypto market capitalization $113 billion higher in a single day, moving it back toward the $2.3 trillion mark, Crypto Briefing reported. Crypto has still lost roughly $780 billion year-to-date, and the $170 billion rebound since July represents only about 22% of that drawdown.
An unusually busy week for U.S. crypto policy framed the rally. President Trump met crypto and technology executives at the White House on Wednesday, a day after the SEC proposed new rules that could make fundraising easier for some crypto projects.
Rate markets, meanwhile, are not pricing a cut. Polymarket traders put the odds of no change at the Sept. 15-16 Fed meeting at 70.5%, against 28.5% for a quarter-point increase and 1.25% for a quarter-point cut.
Sources: The Defiant, AMBCrypto, Crypto Briefing
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