Bitcoin’s $70K Rip Vaporizes $1.9B as Shorts Get Steamrolled

Bitcoin Rally and Consolidation

After falling just short of hitting $70,000 on reports that the U.S. Treasury is doubling bond buybacks to $4 billion, bitcoin appeared to consolidate above $68,200. Despite this, the top cryptocurrency was still up more than 6%, making Aug. 19 one of its best days of the month so far.

Until the U.S. Treasury’s bombshell announcement, bitcoin saw a gradual ascent as it maintained momentum initially sparked by Strategy’s announcement that it had paused bitcoin sales. Since then, bitcoin had slowly climbed, and just hours before the Trump administration’s most consequential move, it had reclaimed $65,000. Afterwards, it added nearly $5,000 as investors reacted with shock to the U.S. Treasury’s intervention.

Bitcoin’s surge toward $70,000 briefly pushed its weekly gains past 10% and lifted its market capitalization to $1.4 trillion. On the derivatives market, bitcoin’s sharp rise wiped out $1.1 billion in short bets on the cryptocurrency in 24 hours, compared with less than $35 million in long bets liquidated. Overall, liquidations across the cryptocurrency market topped $1.9 billion, with short bets alone accounting for $1.74 billion.

While the U.S. Treasury’s announcement clearly lifted bitcoin, the reaction on Wall Street was tepid, with the S&P 500, which reached a new milestone last week, nearly flat with a 0.34% gain. The story was the same for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite; the announcement did not enthuse equity investors as much as bitcoin investors. However, gold rose on the news, climbing past $4,490 per ounce for a daily gain of more than 3.5%.