Bitcoin Tops $85,000, Highest Since January, as Shorts Get Wiped

Bitcoin surged above $85,000 Monday to its highest level since January, forcing $648 million in short liquidations and reviving bull-market calls.

Bitcoin broke above $85,000 on Monday, touching $85,229 in early trading — its highest level since late January, CNBC reports. The cryptocurrency was trading around $84,256 at 06:35 a.m. ET, up roughly 3.8%, according to CoinMetrics data cited by CNBC. The move caps a sharp few days: Bitcoin has gained more than 7% in the last five days and nearly 35% over the past three months, though it remains down year-to-date and well below its record high of over $126,000 set in October 2025. Decrypt pegged the intraday high at $85,111, up 5.7% over 24 hours, clearing a resistance band the market had tested for a week.

The squeeze was violent. According to Decrypt, citing CoinGlass, $648 million of the $770 million in crypto positions liquidated over 24 hours were short positions — bettors caught on the wrong side of the rally. Decrypt says more than $230 million of Bitcoin shorts alone were flushed in a single session as price recovered through $80,000, with spot buying then clearing resistance around $82,000 and triggering stop-losses whose forced buying carried the price through $84,000. Bitcoin also reclaimed its 50-week moving average, per Decrypt. The pattern echoes August, when a Glassnode and Bybit report found shorts supplied 89% of every liquidated dollar during a 24.6% five-day rally.

The rally came despite a run of headwinds. The U.S. Senate last week voted to block the Clarity Act, key legislation that would have divided crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC. Bitcoin also absorbed a Federal Reserve rate hike, a Bank of Japan hike to a 31-year high, and the Senate's Clarity Act rejection, and never traded meaningfully below $75,000, Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev told Decrypt. Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, called the fully anticipated Fed hike a removal of uncertainty and a 'necessary prerequisite' for Bitcoin to rise, arguing most de-risking happened before the decision — a 'sell the rumor, buy the news' setup, per Decrypt.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan told CNBC's 'Squawk Box Europe' that the crypto winter that began after the October 2025 all-time high is over — 'it's crypto spring, the crocuses are blooming' — and predicted 'the strongest and longest-running bull market in crypto's history.' He argued fundamentals improved even as prices declined, pointing to more blockchain transactions and involvement from major firms like BlackRock, and said he doesn't expect Bitcoin to still be below its all-time highs next year. Ironically, he suggested the Clarity Act's failure may boost prices, since 'it's the most pro-crypto SEC in the history of the U.S.' He also flagged rotation out of AI stocks, which had 'sucked all the oxygen out of the room,' back into crypto.

Institutional flows backed the move. Decrypt, citing SoSoValue, says spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $746 million Tuesday and Wednesday, then took in $592 million Thursday and Friday — ending the week just $6.2 million ahead, their smallest weekly net inflow since launch. Moomoo's weekly digest reports Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF has logged 20 consecutive days of net inflows with zero redemptions, holding above 8,026 BTC, while MARA Holdings added $98.64 million in BTC. Altcoins joined in: Coinpedia reports NEAR, Avalanche and SUI posted double-digit gains as total crypto market capitalisation approached $2.8 trillion, with the Fear and Greed Index at 72, tilted toward greed.

BTIG analysts wrote Sunday that as long as the $75,000 level holds, 'bulls can target a push through 82k on the way to' $90,000, CNBC reports. The bears aren't convinced: CoinShares head of research James Butterfill noted the Fed's removal of expected easing through 2027 from the dot plot supports the dollar, and a further hike this year 'now looks increasingly plausible,' per Decrypt. Kalchev expects cooling inflation and an intact labor market to matter more than technical levels, with PCE data due September 30, jobs on October 2, and CPI on October 14. Crypto stocks including Strategy and Coinbase were higher in U.S. premarket trading Monday.