Key facts
- Bitcoin's price increased by up to 8.7% on Wednesday, reaching an intraday high of $69,749.
- This represents the largest single-day gain for Bitcoin since March 4.
- The cryptocurrency's price reached its highest point since June 1.
- The rally coincided with a U.S. Treasury plan to double its long-bond buybacks.
- Over $1 billion in short liquidations occurred across the crypto market within an hour.
Bitcoin experienced its sharpest rally in five months on Wednesday, surging as much as 8.7% to an intraday high of $69,749. This significant move marks the steepest one-day gain since March 4 and the highest price the cryptocurrency has reached since June 1.
The rally appears to have been triggered by a U.S. Treasury announcement that it would at least double its long-bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation starting September 9. This action is expected to push down long-end yields and weaken the dollar, typically benefiting risk assets like Bitcoin by loosening financial conditions.
The timing of the rally also coincided with a White House meeting between crypto executives and regulators, and a fresh proposal from the SEC to ease registration rules for certain digital-asset offerings. This confluence of events created a favorable environment for crypto bulls.
The surge led to substantial short liquidations across the crypto market, with CoinGlass reporting over $1.14 billion wiped out in a single hour, $677.64 million of which was Bitcoin shorts. Crypto-linked stocks also followed Bitcoin higher, with Strategy, Coinbase, Circle, and BitMine all seeing gains.
Prediction markets reflected the sudden shift in sentiment. On Myriad, odds that had previously favored a bearish decline (around 70-30) flipped to a near coin flip within 24 hours. While year-end market predictions showed less immediate reaction, near-term indicators were caught off guard by the rapid price increase.