Bitcoin Squeezes Past $87,000 Barrier, Eyes $90,000 Target
Bitcoin's recent breakout above $87,000 has put $90,000 within sight, but history comes with a catch. The cryptocurrency closed the week of September 20 at $81,178, its first weekly settlement above the 50-week moving average since November 2025, and pushed further to an intraday high above $87,000 the next day.
The breakout clears one of the market's most closely watched technical lines, but leaves open the question of whether the buying underneath it can hold that ground. Galaxy Research examined 13 prior instances of Bitcoin reclaiming the 50-week average on a weekly close and found that 11 of those reclaims held, with the bear market's low staying in place afterward.
Nicolai Sondergaard, senior research analyst at Nansen, points to a specific gap behind the rally. Large Bitcoin traders on Hyperliquid remained net short even as price broke higher, and on-chain data showed more Bitcoin flowing into exchanges than out of them over the two days surrounding the move.
Sondergaard said that Bitcoin's move above $84,000 looks less like a clean macro-driven accumulation event and more like a combination of renewed ETF demand and a large short squeeze. He argued that the current setup is better described as a tactical risk-on rebound than a confirmed new accumulation cycle.