Bitcoin broke out of a multi-month range last week, closing near $77,700 after a nearly 24% rise from a $62,750 low. Analysts point to a wave of short liquidations, rising futures open interest, and the strongest ETF inflows since October 2025 as evidence the rally rests on fresh positioning rather than short covering.
Bitcoin ended a multi-month trading range last week, closing near $77,700 after a nearly 24% rise from a $62,750 weekly low. The leading cryptocurrency topped $71,000 on August 20. The move came despite August's historically weak track record for Bitcoin, which the Bitfinex Alpha report says has typically delivered negative median returns.
Short liquidations and ETF inflows drive the breakout
A key catalyst was the U.S. Treasury's expansion of its bond buyback program, which triggered a liquidity response in markets. Alongside it, $3 billion in Bitcoin short positions were liquidated over two days, marking the largest short-side wipeout on record.
Long liquidations stayed limited, while futures open interest rose to $51 billion. That combination suggests fresh positions entered the market rather than the rally coming only from traders closing leverage.
Spot demand added further support. U.S. Bitcoin ETFs posted about $1.92 billion in weekly net inflows, their strongest weekly total since October 2025, lifting assets under management above $96 billion.
Strategy's pause leaves mixed signals
Corporate activity, however, remained subdued. Strategy, the largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder, reported no BTC purchases or sales in its filing. The pause followed a period of activity and left its average acquisition price at around $75,385, below the market price.
With Bitcoin now above that level, the company has moved from a $9.5 billion paper loss to a $4.7 billion paper profit. Bitfinex analysts said Strategy could influence whether Bitcoin maintains the breakout, since the company stopped selling shortly before BTC moved beyond its summer range, removing a source of supply pressure that had been present during the consolidation.
Source: CryptoPotato
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