Bitcoin Pushes Above $81K as Shorts Get Liquidated 🚀
Bitcoin is now trading around $81,000, after reaching a 24-hour high of $81,370. $BTC is getting very close to its previous local high, with strong buying pressure behind the move.
The rally has already caused over $510 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours. Short sellers took the biggest hit, with $419.55 million in short positions liquidated, compared with $90.67 million in longs.
It started with a Chinese company called Farmmi. A mushroom named JINQIAN, which means “money mushroom,” appeared in one of its reports.
Someone then created a meme coin using the mushroom’s name, and the hype quickly spread to the stock market.
Farmmi shares jumped from $0.12 to $0.50, while trading volume increased about 150 times. At one point, the JINQIAN meme coin reached a market cap of around $60 million, almost 10 times the value of Farmmi itself.
But there’s an important detail: the meme coin is not backed by Farmmi shares. There is no direct connection between the token and Farmmi’s Nasdaq-listed stock.
Bitcoin’s performance is on a completely different level. While major stocks and gold delivered strong long-term returns, $BTC turned a relatively small investment into millions.
September Has Historically Been Bitcoin’s Weakest Month
Since 2013, $BTC has ended September lower in 8 out of 13 years, with an average monthly return of -2.97%. No other month has performed worse on average, June comes next at -1.59%.
However, Bitcoin managed to break this trend over the past three years, with September closing higher in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
So far, 2026 is following the historical pattern. Since the start of September, $BTC is down around 1.46%.
The SEC will hold a meeting on September 17 to discuss the idea of making US stock markets available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
They will talk about how to keep enough buyers and sellers in the market, how to monitor trading at night, how trades would be settled, and what technology would be needed.
The SEC is also looking at new rules for how stocks are issued and transferred. This includes the possibility of using blockchain technology to issue and move shares.
If approved, this could bring traditional markets closer to the 24/7 system already used by crypto.
Bitcoin Just Had Its Strongest Month in Nearly Two Years
Bitcoin gained 24.95% in August, while Ethereum rose 32.53%. For $BTC , this was the strongest monthly performance since November 2024.
What makes the move even more interesting is that August has historically been a difficult month for Bitcoin, with $BTC often going down.
The rally picked up in mid-August, supported by positive news from the U.S. and plans by the Treasury to increase buybacks of long-term government bonds.
Over the past few months, Strategy sold a total of 5,310 $BTC across three transactions, with selling prices ranging from around $60,200 to $64,300 per Bitcoin.
As Bitcoin moved higher, the company returned to the market and purchased another 4,603 $BTC at an average price of approximately $80,300.
That means Strategy’s latest purchases were made roughly 25–33% above the prices at which it previously sold.
The conflict between the U.S. and Iran is heating up again. After U.S. strikes on Iranian targets and Iran’s response, oil prices rose nearly 2% while global stock markets moved lower.
Bitcoin, however, has remained relatively stable, trading around $78,000.
Despite the geopolitical uncertainty, $BTC remains one of the strongest-performing major assets this August, up around 24% for the month. $XAU is up roughly 9%, while the Nasdaq has gained about 4%.
If Bitcoin holds its current levels until the end of the month, $BTC will close August with a gain of around 25.95%, making it its strongest August in the last 9 years.
But there is an interesting historical pattern. After a positive August, Bitcoin has historically gone on to close September in the red.
Over the past five years, Bitcoin has often seen notable price moves around Jackson Hole. In 2022, $BTC fell by around 6% following Powell’s speech.
But what is Jackson Hole?
It is an annual economic symposium where central bank leaders gather. The Fed Chair’s speech is closely watched for signals on inflation, interest rates, and the economy, factors that can influence risk assets, including crypto.
Following Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first Jackson Hole speech yesterday, $BTC is down around 3.8%.
Saw this on X and thought it was worth sharing. "Y'all are way too attached to money. Too happy when you make it. Too depressed when you lose it. You treat money like some really rare event instead of something normal. Loosen up, my friends. See money for what it truly is: just a tool in this illusion, not a trophy. Don't worship it. Don't fear losing it. Don't let it ever control your emotions. If you made it once, you can make it again. If you lose it, trust you can create tenfold more if you choose to. Stop acting like abundance is somewhere in the future. Feel abundant NOW. Choose it. Claim it. Let go of the attachment. Money comes and goes. You remain. You attract what you are."
He Lost 61 Bitcoin, 12 Years Later, They’re Worth $5M
A British man named Chris lost access to 61 $BTC in 2014 after the crypto exchange Intersango shut down.
Back then, his Bitcoin was worth only around $5,400. Today, the same coins are worth roughly $5 million.
After months of working with lawyers, Chris finally recovered access to his funds. He now plans to sell some of his $BTC to buy a bigger home for his family, while keeping the rest as a long-term investment.
$ENA is up around 20% after Ethena announced major changes to its token model.
The Ethena Foundation bought locked ENA from several early investors who had sold tokens over the past nine months. This removes part of the future selling pressure from those investors.
Ethena also proposed using 95% of the net revenue received from its businesses to buy back ENA once USDe reaches the required supply level.
The revenue comes from products such as USDe savings, stablecoins and other Ethena services.
CZ believes Bitcoin could eventually become more important than gold, with the gap between the two assets potentially shrinking sharply during the next bull market.
Gold’s total market value is currently around 10× larger than Bitcoin’s. However, CZ believes $BTC could reach $1 million much sooner than 25 years from now.
Researchers at StarkWare have developed a way to make Bitcoin transactions more resistant to potential attacks from quantum computers, without changing the Bitcoin network.
The method uses features that already exist in Bitcoin. For now, it requires a lot of computing power, so it is not ready for widespread use.
Still, the research suggests that Bitcoin could potentially be protected from quantum threats before any major protocol upgrade is needed.
Bernstein analysts see Bitcoin reaching $125K by the end of 2026 and $150K by mid-2027. For 2029, their main target is around $300K. But in a strong bull market, they believe $BTC could go as high as $500K. And they don’t stop there: Bernstein has a long-term target of $1 million by 2033. Their main argument is simple: government debt keeps growing, while fiat currencies can lose value over time. This could push more big investors toward Bitcoin as a scarce asset.