Bitcoin Breaks Through $80k Barrier Amid Record Short Squeeze

Bitcoin has broken through the $80,000 barrier, trading at $80,684 after a 27.5% surge over the past week.

The catalyst for this rally was a US Treasury announcement on expanded buybacks of longer-dated government debt, which provided a much-needed liquidity boost to markets.

This move marked the end of Bitcoin's month-long range-bound trading between $62,000 and $65,000, with traders betting against it getting caught in one of the biggest liquidation waves ever recorded.

Roughly $3 billion in short positions were wiped out between August 19-20, compared to just $337 million in long liquidations, marking the largest short-side liquidation event on record.