Bitcoin climbed above $80,000 on Aug. 24, its first visit to that level since May 15, as a week-long rebound accelerated after the U.S. market open and forced more than $220 million in cryptocurrency short-position liquidations over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass.
TradingView data showed BTC/USD gaining roughly 3% during the day before retreating after the European market close. The break ended a 100-day period below $80,000 and extended Bitcoin’s month-to-date advance to about 25%, based on TradingView pricing. That would make August 2026 Bitcoin’s strongest August performance since 2017.
The move has put short sellers under pressure while returning Bitcoin to a price area that had been absent from the market for more than three months. Short liquidations occur when traders who bet on a price decline are forced to close leveraged positions as losses exceed available collateral. Those closures generally require buying the underlying asset or related derivatives, which can add momentum to an existing rise.
Short liquidations accompany the move above $80,000
CoinGlass recorded more than $220 million in liquidated crypto short positions during the 24-hour period surrounding the move. The figure covers the wider cryptocurrency derivatives market rather than Bitcoin alone, but Bitcoin’s break above a closely watched round-number level provided the main catalyst for the surge in activity.
Liquidation totals can reveal where leverage had accumulated, though they do not establish whether a price move is driven primarily by fresh spot demand, derivatives positioning, or both. A sharp rise in forced closures often makes intraday moves more volatile, especially after Bitcoin breaks out of a range that has contained it for weeks.
Bitcoin’s pullback after the European close showed that the $80,000 level had not immediately become a stable floor. Price briefly moved above the threshold before easing, leaving traders to assess whether the rally can establish support at former resistance or whether it remains a rapid squeeze through leveraged positions.
The 25% monthly gain has also moved Bitcoin further away from the prolonged downward structure that dominated late 2025 and early 2026. Yet the speed of the rebound raises the risk of equally sharp retracements if leverage continues to build around recent highs.
$76,700 emerges as a nearby liquidity area
CoinGlass liquidation data identified a concentration of bid liquidity near $76,700. In practical terms, that area contains visible orders or positioning that market participants may view as a potential cushion if Bitcoin turns lower.
Such liquidity clusters are not fixed support levels. Orders can be removed, filled, or overwhelmed during a sell-off. They are useful mainly as a map of where trading interest is concentrated, rather than as a guarantee that a decline will stop at a particular price.
A move back toward $76,700 would also bring Bitcoin close to another technical level followed by market participants: its 50-week exponential moving average. The 50-week EMA, a trend indicator that gives greater weight to recent prices, stood at $77,251, according to market commentator Rekt Capital.
Bitcoin recorded its first weekly close above that moving average since November 2025. Weekly closes are closely watched because they filter out some of the noise from intraday trading and can indicate whether a breakout has broader follow-through.
The 50-week average remains a test of the rebound
Rekt Capital said the latest weekly candle closed near its highs, an outcome that reflects sustained buying through the end of the week rather than a brief intraday spike. The commentator also cautioned that Bitcoin could face a pullback within days or weeks if the current advance proves to be a relief rally inside a broader bearish structure.
The comparison points to Bitcoin’s 2022 bear market, when BTC/USD registered two weekly closes above the same 50-week exponential moving average before eventually falling to that cycle’s lows. The historical example limits the value of treating a single technical break as confirmation that a previous downtrend has definitively ended.
The difference this time is the scale and pace of August’s rebound. Bitcoin has recovered 25% in less than a month and reclaimed a level that had capped price action since mid-May. Holding above the 50-week EMA would keep the recovery intact on the weekly chart, while a sustained drop beneath it would place attention back on lower support zones and the concentration of liquidity around $76,700.
A rally with clear levels on both sides
The market now has a relatively narrow set of reference points. Above, Bitcoin needs to demonstrate that $80,000 can attract buyers after the initial breakout rather than merely trigger short-covering. Below, the $77,251 weekly EMA and the $76,700 liquidity concentration form the nearest areas likely to receive attention during any pullback.
Bitcoin’s return above $80,000 has changed the immediate market structure from one defined by resistance to one testing whether reclaimed levels can hold. The next weekly close may offer a clearer answer than the volatile intraday action that accompanied Sunday’s breakout.
Want more context on BTC’s rally? Read this Bitcoin price analysis before making your next move.
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