Can Bitcoin Hold Above $80,000? Bitcoin briefly broke above $80,000 on Monday for the first time since mid-May, extending a sharp August rebound that has lifted the cryptocurrency by roughly
Can Bitcoin Hold Above $80,000?
Bitcoin briefly broke above $80,000 on Monday for the first time since mid-May, extending a sharp August rebound that has lifted the cryptocurrency by roughly 25% and forced another wave of bearish positions out of the derivatives market. BTC entered Monday near $77,700 before pushing through $79,000 and then $80,000 after the Wall Street open. The cryptocurrency later gave back part of the advance, leaving traders focused less on the intraday milestone and more on whether the area can become support. More than $220 million of crypto short positions were liquidated over the preceding 24 hours around the time
Bitcoin challenged $80,000, according to derivatives market data. Short liquidations can accelerate rallies because leveraged traders are forced to buy back positions as prices rise, adding demand to conventional spot purchases. That effect eventually fades once vulnerable positions have been cleared. A concentration of liquidity near $76,700 therefore remains important if Bitcoin retreats from the latest highs. The bullish case now depends on whether buyers can defend the upper-$70,000 region rather than simply produce another short-lived move through $80,000.
Why Does The 50-Week EMA Matter?
Bitcoin also completed its first weekly close above the 50-week exponential moving average since November 2025. BTC closed last week near $77,727, while the moving average began this week around $77,250. The recovery is technically important because the 50-week EMA has acted as a useful dividing line during previous
Bitcoin bear markets. Reclaiming it can indicate improving longer-term momentum, but history shows that a weekly close above the level does not by itself end a bearish cycle. During the 2022 downturn, Bitcoin recorded two weekly closes above the same indicator before reversing and eventually reaching its cycle low. That leaves the current move open to two interpretations. Bulls can argue that Bitcoin is repairing the market structure damaged by its decline from the October 2025 record above $126,000. Bears can still treat the advance as a relief rally until BTC holds reclaimed resistance and begins breaking the sequence of lower highs established since the peak. Trader Rekt Capital described the latest weekly close as the beginning of the more important test. “Bitcoin has Weekly Closed at the highs. Now starts the real test,” he wrote on Monday.
Investor Takeaway
Bitcoin does not need another vertical move to strengthen the bullish case. Holding roughly $77,000-$80,000 through a period of consolidation would provide stronger evidence that the rebound is being supported by buyers rather than mainly by forced short covering.
Are ETF Inflows Supporting The Rally?
Spot demand is becoming increasingly important after one of Bitcoin's fastest rallies of the year. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $1.9 billion of net inflows during the week ended Aug. 21, their strongest weekly performance since October 2025. The inflows matter because ETF purchases provide a cleaner measure of capital entering Bitcoin exposure than derivatives liquidations. If the rally were driven mainly by short sellers being forced out, momentum could weaken once those positions are cleared. Continued ETF buying would show that investors are still allocating capital at higher prices. Bitcoin began August near $62,800 and is now up roughly 25% for the month, putting it on course for its strongest August since 2017 if the gains survive through month-end. That performance runs against Bitcoin's historically weak August seasonality and follows a rapid reversal from levels near $63,000 earlier this month.
What Could Decide The Next Bitcoin Move?
The rally has also benefited from a change in the macro backdrop. The U.S. Treasury expanded purchases of older longer-dated government bonds through its buyback program, initially pushing long-term yields lower and weighing on the dollar. Bitcoin and gold rallied as concerns about government borrowing and currency purchasing power revived demand for scarce assets. The combination of Treasury buybacks, ETF inflows and short covering carried Bitcoin directly into a resistance area that had stopped previous recovery attempts. A sustained move above $80,000 would make the bear-market rally argument harder to maintain, particularly if Bitcoin continues holding above its 50-week EMA and eventually breaks the descending resistance structure formed since the 2025 record. A rejection would preserve the bearish interpretation. Losing the reclaimed moving average would bring the $76,700 liquidity area back into focus and show that Bitcoin's strongest weekly advance in months was unable to produce a lasting change in longer-term structure. The speed of the advance also argues against treating the first $80,000 print as confirmation. Rapid short squeezes can extend much further than expected, but they can also leave weak support beneath the market once forced buying disappears. After recovering more than $15,000 from its early-August levels, Bitcoin has already completed the easier part of the rebound. The harder test is whether buyers are willing to keep holding it near $80,000.
