In brief

  • Bitcoin hit an intraday high of $72,408 Thursday before easing to $71,423, up 3.07% on the day
  • This is the highest level since a flash crash sent the coin below $68,000 on June 2.
  • Bitcoin's short sellers are having their worst two days on record: more than $3 billion in short positions were liquidated across crypto in the past 24 hours alone, taking out over 190,000 traders.

Bitcoin broke back above $72,000 Thursday, touching an intraday high of $72,408 before easing to trade near $71,423, up 3.07% on the day.

That's the highest Bitcoin has traded since June 2, when a flash crash knocked it from roughly $71,765 to $67,895 in a single session, the opening move in a slide that eventually dragged Bitcoin to a 21-month low near $57,832 by the end of June.

The rally, now in its second day, has added close to 15% since Monday.

The gains also sparked a massive liquidation of short positions—bets that Bitcoin's price would fall, placed by traders who borrow and sell the asset planning to buy it back cheaper later. When the price rises instead, exchanges force-close those trades once a trader's collateral can't cover the loss, a process called a liquidation.

That mechanic was already visible during Wednesday's squeeze, when Bitcoin first cleared $70,000. Per Coinglass, 174.416 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours with the total liquidations coming in at $2.85 billion, adding up to the numbers from yesterday.

Each forced buyback pushes the price higher, which trips the next layer of shorts—a feedback loop traders call a short squeeze.

The macroeconomic background can’t be ignored when searching for a catalyst for Bitcoin’s big moves this week. The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday it would at least double its long-bond buybacks—purchases of the government's own debt meant to support demand and ease borrowing costs—raising the cap from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation on 10-to-30-year securities starting September 9.

The Treasury’s move pulled bond yields down and weakened the dollar, a combination analysts have nicknamed "QE Lite," after the Fed's old bond-buying stimulus programs, because it loosens financial conditions in a similar way. The announcement landed hours before a White House meeting where President Trump sat down with crypto executives from Coinbase, Ripple, and Robinhood, among others.

Sentiment flipped as fast as price. On Myriad, the prediction market run by Decrypt's parent company, traders betting on Bitcoin's next move had leaned 70% toward a dump to $55,000 a day earlier; by Wednesday afternoon, the odds had collapsed to almost 50-50.

Thursday's spike is also the most forceful test yet of Bitcoin's death cross, the pattern that forms when the 50-day exponential moving average, or EMA, falls below the 200-day EMA, a signal traders read as confirmation that short-term momentum has turned against the longer-term trend.

Bitcoin's cross formed on November 16, 2025, six weeks after the coin's record high near $126,198, and has held ever since. Bears have had nine months to get comfortable with that setup.

As of Thursday afternoon, Bitcoin still hadn't closed decisively above both lines. The chart hasn't flipped—yet.

Blockchain analytics firm Glassnode measured just how sharp the move was, calling it "its largest upside shock since October 2023" relative to Bitcoin's recent volatility. Crypto-linked stocks caught the same updraft, with Strategy jumping nearly 12% and Coinbase climbing 9% this week. Spot Bitcoin ETFs added $517 million in net inflows Wednesday, their largest single-day haul since May.

The next Treasury buyback operation under the expanded program begins September 9, when the same 10-to-30-year securities get another round of purchases.