🔐 END-OF-DAY MARKET REPORT — August 21, 2026

🌐 TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES

Bitcoin added $280 billion to the crypto market capitalization in 24 hours through a short squeeze on August 19-20, during which $3.5 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated — the largest recorded short liquidation wave since 2021 and the seventh-largest liquidation event of all time.

According to Kobeissi Letter data, more than $3 billion of the $3.5 billion in total liquidations came from short positions; BTC liquidations totaled approximately $1.67-$1.76 billion, while ETH liquidations reached around $1.13-$1.16 billion — more than $1 billion in BTC shorts were closed within a single hour.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $606 million in net inflows on August 20 — the largest single-day inflow since May 1; Ethereum ETFs received $221 million the same day, with combined daily inflows exceeding $800 million.

The rally also spread to crypto-related stocks: Strategy rose 12%, while Coinbase, Circle and BitMine gained approximately 10%.

BTC futures funding rates (BTC 0.0101%, ETH 0.0103%) remain moderate — indicating that the new leverage buildup typically seen after a squeeze of this scale has not yet emerged; spot buying leading futures is viewed as a healthier signal.

The September 15 procedural Senate vote on the CLARITY Act remains the market’s most important medium-term event.

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₿ BITCOIN

BTC is trading in the $76,700-$77,200 range this morning, approximately 7.5% above yesterday’s open; it continued its rally with an additional gain of more than 4% during the Asian session, trading between $73,025-$79,306 over the past 24 hours. Reaching its highest level since early June, BTC broke out of its six-week sideways range and posted its strongest daily performance since March. The long-short ratio had fallen from ~1.05 on Tuesday to 0.835 before the squeeze, showing that the market had shifted toward short positioning ahead of the breakout and that the technical move turned into a massive liquidation event. Open interest increased 9.11% to $131.25 billion. BTC remains significantly below its October 2025 peak of ~$126,000.

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🔷 ETHEREUM & ALTCOINS

ETH is trading in the $2,320-$2,330 range, up 3.3% over the past 24 hours; after yesterday’s 19-20% surge, it is holding above $2,300. XRP gained 14.6% to reclaim the $1.26 level, while BNB rose 4.3% to $654. LIT gained 26.5% and PUMP rose 9.4% over the past 24 hours — the rally is expanding with broad altcoin participation beyond BTC and ETH. Total crypto market capitalization rose 4.54% to $2.47 trillion.

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📋 TOP CRYPTO NEWS

Analysts emphasize that the squeeze is also being supported by genuine demand — the $517.2 million ETF inflow on August 19 was the strongest daily flow in more than three months; the move is therefore not viewed as purely technical, with institutional demand also contributing.

Unlike the two major liquidation waves in June ($1.8 billion and $1.76 billion), pressure this time was concentrated primarily on short positions — a significant reversal in the market’s positioning structure.

CoinDesk reported that signals of regulators working toward a compliant path for Hyperliquid are helping fuel the second leg of the rally.

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🔓 TOKEN UNLOCKS

MultiBank Group (MBG)

August 22, 2026

Amount: ~$2.85 million (6.16% of circulating supply) — 27.15 million tokens

Selling pressure: 🔴

Note: High relative to the circulating float; carries a dilutive impact for a small-cap token.

Meteora (MET)

August 23, 2026

Amount: ~$1.16 million (1.31% of market capitalization)

Selling pressure: 🟡

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🔭 OUTLOOK & UPCOMING EVENTS

Funding rates remaining at moderate levels indicate that a new wave of excessive leverage has not yet accumulated following the squeeze — this could suggest the rally is developing on a healthier foundation, although whether spot buying continues should be closely monitored. The September 15 CLARITY Act vote remains the most important medium-term catalyst; a failure could lead to part of the rally being retraced. The MBG and MET unlocks on August 22-23 are relatively small releases expected to have limited impact in the strong risk-appetite environment. The market will continue testing whether BTC’s daily high above $79,000 can become a sustainable level.