Bitcoin (BTC) climbed above $85,000 on Monday for the first time since January, as roughly $648 million in forced short liquidations accelerated its rebound.
Key Points:
- Bitcoin topped $85,000 on Monday, its highest level in eight months.
- Shorts made up about $648 million of roughly $750 million in daily liquidations.
- On-chain wallet activity has stayed flat while derivatives positioning surged.
Bitcoin Short Squeeze
Bitcoin briefly topped $85,000 on Monday, its highest level in eight months and a sharp reversal from the levels it was defending only a week earlier. It traded at $84,984 in the late European morning, up 5.4% over 24 hours and well clear of its Sept. 4 high of $82,284. The move carried it past a range that had capped every recovery attempt since the spring, and back above the average cost basis of U.S. spot exchange-traded funds near $82,225.
Short sellers absorbed most of the damage. Liquidations of leveraged crypto positions reached about $750 million over the past day, and shorts accounted for roughly $648 million of that 24-hour total, CoinGlass data showed.
Bitcoin positions alone made up $360.7 million of the tally. The largest single order was an $11.3 million perpetual futures position on Binance, and about 137,000 traders were closed out across the market during the same window. Open interest still rose 7.59% to $156 billion and trading volume climbed 39% to $224 billion, which points to fresh bets replacing the ones being forced shut.
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Glassnode Acceleration Zone
On-chain analytics firm Glassnode had flagged the $83,000 to $86,000 area as a likely acceleration zone, because a dense cluster of short positions sat there waiting to be triggered. The same cluster can deepen a decline if prices fall back.
Network activity tells a quieter story. Figures from Santiment show that new and active Bitcoin addresses held near their median levels between July 24 and Sept. 20, even as the price broke higher. Ten weekdays over the past two months produced more new wallets than the Sept. 18 breakout session, when open interest jumped about 9%.
Bitcoin Recovery Timeline
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy, reads Bitcoin's first weekly close above its 50-week moving average in 45 weeks as a signal that the bear market low is behind the asset. That close came at $81,159, about 3% above the average near $78,786.
The rebound has been quick. Bitcoin traded near $75,000 on Sept. 15 and recovered above $80,000 on Friday, leaving it up about 29% over the past 35 days and less than 3% lower for the year. It still sits roughly 32.5% below the record near $126,000 that it set in October 2025, a peak it has not seriously threatened since.
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