Bitcoin traded as high as $86,332 on Monday, its highest level since January, as short sellers were run over and falling oil prices eased pressure on risk assets. The move survived last week's Senate rejection of the Clarity Act, with traders now focused on a Trump-Xi summit and a run of economic data through mid-October.
Bitcoin traded as high as $86,332 on Monday, a price the market hasn't seen since January. The gains came fast: the day's candlestick opened at $81,152 and closed for a 4.98% gain, extending a bounce that began near $62,000 on August 17 and carried the coin back above $80,000 in one month.
Short sellers get run over
Short positions supplied most of the fuel behind the short squeeze. CoinGlass recorded $877.31 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, with $740.79 million of that — about 84% — wiped out from short bets as the price climbed. More than 126,000 accounts were liquidated in the period, and Bitcoin alone accounted for $491.48 million of the total, while Ethereum added $195.11 million.
Nansen analyst Nicolai Søndergaard read the same pattern in commentary sent to reporters, saying the rally looked like "a combination of renewed ETF demand and a large short squeeze." He added that large crypto-native holders on Hyperliquid remained net short even as the price turned bullish, leaving the move vulnerable if ETF inflows weaken or Treasury yields climb again.
Falling oil and yields clear the way
Oil did some of the heavy lifting. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 8.1% to $92.17 on Monday. Brent dropped for four straight sessions on hopes that Washington and Tehran can ease tensions around this week's United Nations General Assembly.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield slipped back near 4.9% after touching its highest level since October 2023 earlier this month. Traders are also positioning ahead of a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on September 24.
Clarity Act failure barely registers
Bitcoin's rise came six days after the Senate blocked the Clarity Act, the crypto market-structure bill industry groups had pushed for. Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the industry's sharpest critics, told Congress ahead of the vote that the bill endangered families, and Democrats broadly objected to the ethics provisions. Despite the setback, Bitcoin ETFs bought nearly $593 million in shares on Thursday and Friday, according to Farside Investors data, and the SEC and CFTC are still pushing ahead with related rulemaking.
The next three weeks
The Relative Strength Index shows Bitcoin is currently overbought, and the reading points toward at minimum a pause or a retest of the $79,071-to-$80,355 support zone before the next leg. A weekly close back below that zone would undercut the bullish structure, while holding above it keeps the path toward new highs intact. Bitcoin's next moves hinge on a data calendar it doesn't control: the Trump-Xi summit on September 24, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge on September 30, the September jobs report on October 2, and consumer price data on October 14.
Sources: Decrypt, Bitcoin Magazine, The Defiant
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