Bitcoin surged to $87,374 on Monday, hitting the highest level since January, up about 6% intraday and more than 7% for the week. The defining feature of this move wasn’t spot buying—it was a short squeeze. Roughly $1 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, with about nine-tenths coming from shorts. At the same time, open interest didn’t fall; it actually rose, reaching about $156 billion, suggesting that many people haven’t exited—they’ve instead added leverage again.
My view is cautious. The rally driven upward by liquidations of shorts is fundamentally different in quality from a rally driven by real capital buying. Once spot and ETF buying can’t keep up, the pullback can happen quickly—<t-2/>$BTC is still roughly 30% below last October’s historical peak of about $126,000.
On the other hand, the price has moved back above the average cost line of U.S. spot ETF buyers. Holders who were previously sitting on unrealized losses have just returned to being in the green.
So the key isn’t whether $90,000 is or isn’t touched—it’s whether this move was pushed by leverage or whether demand has truly returned. Are you holding spot right now, or are you using derivatives to chase this leg?
#Bitcoin breaks through $85,000
My view is cautious. The rally driven upward by liquidations of shorts is fundamentally different in quality from a rally driven by real capital buying. Once spot and ETF buying can’t keep up, the pullback can happen quickly—<t-2/>$BTC is still roughly 30% below last October’s historical peak of about $126,000.
On the other hand, the price has moved back above the average cost line of U.S. spot ETF buyers. Holders who were previously sitting on unrealized losses have just returned to being in the green.
So the key isn’t whether $90,000 is or isn’t touched—it’s whether this move was pushed by leverage or whether demand has truly returned. Are you holding spot right now, or are you using derivatives to chase this leg?
#Bitcoin breaks through $85,000