Bitcoin Taps August High Near $80K Amid Massive Short Position Wipeout
Bitcoin's price has rebounded to an August high of $79,989 after briefly dipping below $77,000 over the weekend. The cryptocurrency market appeared to recover from a slump that saw several high-cap altcoins retreat from multi-month highs.
Market data shows that bitcoin trended just below $77,500 until around 7:30 a.m. EST before spiking to just under $79,200 and reaching $79,989, a new August peak. However, a quick sell-off pulled it back to $78,200, only for prices to surge higher once more.
The latest gains pushed bitcoin's market capitalization to $1.59 trillion and brought its year-to-date losses below 10% for the first time since mid-May, exciting investors who believe the cryptocurrency will close 2026 in the green.
On the derivatives market, liquidated short positions outpaced liquidated long positions, with wiped-out short bets reaching $222 million. According to Coinglass data, this is markedly lower than the hundreds of millions liquidated seen last week.
Economist Peter Schiff warned of 'massive QE' due to the U.S. Treasury's bond buyback plans and subsequent remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinting at even larger buybacks as the main driver of this flight to alternative assets like gold and cryptocurrency.