Bitcoin pushes past $71,000 for the first time since June, extending a rally that begins to build momentum through Wednesday and accelerates sharply overnight into Thursday trading.
The largest cryptocurrency adds roughly 3.5% since midnight UTC and climbs 11% across the past 24 hours, decisively clearing a range that holds since early July.
For six weeks, bitcoin grinds sideways between roughly $62,000 and $66,900, with volatility dropping to multi-year lows as traders repeatedly sell into every approach toward the range high.
That sideways action builds a dense cluster of short positions sitting between $65,000 and $67,000, setting the stage for a violent unwind once buyers regain control.
The catalyst arrives from Washington rather than crypto markets themselves. The U.S. Treasury announces it will at least double long-dated bond buyback operations to $4 billion.
That move pulls the 30-year yield down from its highest level since 2007, and the resulting bid across risk assets proves enough to clear resistance overhead.
Once the ceiling breaks, roughly $3 billion in short positions get force-bought back into thin resting supply, sending bitcoin up more than 8% within a single hour.
Ether rides the same wave, trading near $2,270 and sitting just below its own three-month high after rising close to 19% over the trailing 24-hour period.
Solana, XRP, and dogecoin all post double-digit gains alongside the majors, as the broad-based move sweeps through nearly every corner of the crypto market simultaneously.
Coinbase’s Fear and Greed index jumps to 59, a reading that signals greed, up from 41 just a day earlier when sentiment still leaned toward fear.
Daily bitcoin trading volume surges roughly 250% to around $59 billion, while total short liquidations reach $3 billion against just $263.5 million on the long side.
That imbalance marks the largest short liquidation event the market records since at least 2021, with bitcoin alone accounting for $1.67 billion of the total figure.
Hours after the initial move, President Trump adds fuel by urging Congress to pass the Clarity Act and floating the idea of large-scale U.S. bitcoin purchases.
He also reveals that regulators are exploring a compliant pathway for Hyperliquid, giving traders fresh reason to extend a rally that already covers most of its ground.
Analysts now debate whether the Clarity Act’s momentum is already priced into the current move, or whether further regulatory clarity could still push prices meaningfully higher.
