BTC Clears $77K as Crypto Market Rides Its Strongest Week in Years

• Bitcoin has surged nearly 24% since Monday, reaching the upside target set by its inverse head-and-shoulders breakout, while bearish traders continue to hold short positions.
• BTC climbed to roughly $79,400 on Friday, gaining 8.8% since midnight UTC. The advance extended the rally that began after the U.S. Treasury’s Wednesday announcement, with Bitcoin later trading just below $78,000.
• The Treasury’s expanded bond-buyback plan helped reinforce the upward move. Bitcoin has now posted five consecutive daily gains, putting it on track for its biggest weekly rise since March 2023.
• Crypto derivatives recorded about $3.3 billion in liquidations on Wednesday, followed by another $1.25 billion over the next 24 hours, according to CoinGlass.
• The Altcoin Season Index dropped to 33 from 36 as Bitcoin dominance increased to 59.9%. That did not stop several altcoins from outperforming BTC: ENA rose 13% since midnight, ZEC climbed 12.5%, while NEAR and LINK gained about 8%.
• Bitcoin has now exceeded the roughly $76,000 target associated with the inverse head-and-shoulders formation that emerged from the June lows. With the pattern’s objective reached and RSI signaling overbought conditions, the market could see a short-term correction.

Derivatives Market

• The Dollar Index hovered near 98.77, slightly below its August highs, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.43% after the index underperformed the broader crypto market.
• Total crypto liquidations fell to around $1.24 billion over 24 hours, down 62% from Thursday’s peak. Shorts accounted for approximately $1.06 billion, compared with $178 million in long liquidations. More than 152,000 traders were liquidated.
• The largest individual liquidation involved a $23.59 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid.
• Bitcoin’s aggregate long-short account ratio was 0.865, showing that short accounts still exceeded long accounts. Traders have continued betting against the rally for four days and have repeatedly been forced to cover, leaving additional potential for a short squeeze.
• Aggregate crypto open interest climbed 6.17% to $139.37 billion. Bitcoin futures open interest increased 7.38% to $57.7 billion, while total BTC open interest reached $25.06 billion, its highest level since June.
• The increase in open interest indicates traders are rebuilding leveraged exposure as prices climb instead of remaining on the sidelines.
• Bitcoin’s projected funding rate reached 0.013%, which would represent its highest reading since January.
• XRP recorded the strongest shift in derivatives positioning among major tokens. Its 24-hour trading volume jumped 139%, while open interest increased 15.5% as XRP surged 19%.
• CryptoQuant data showed 30-day apparent spot demand recovering from a negative 206,000 BTC on July 23 to roughly negative 5,000 BTC. The metric is approaching positive territory for the first time since Feb. 26.
• Historically, Bitcoin has gained a median 18% during the 60 days following a move in apparent spot demand from negative to positive, with the signal producing a 78% win rate, CryptoQuant said. When the crossover occurs while MVRV is below its 365-day moving average, the median gain rises to 23%, with an 87% win rate.
• CryptoQuant noted that the historical sample is limited and that the current signal has yet to officially turn positive.
• The research also shows that a similar crossover in perpetual futures demand has little predictive power. That means sustained spot buying could be crucial to keeping the rally intact once forced short covering fades.

Altcoin Rally

• Ethena’s ENA jumped 13% since midnight to around $0.132, extending its daily gain to about 42% and its weekly increase to 56%.
• The token’s rally came after Ethena announced a $1 billion secured warehouse facility with FalconX. The arrangement uses USDe-backed assets for overcollateralized institutional lending and reduces dependence on crypto basis trading. ENA trading volume climbed to roughly $622 million.
• Zcash rose 12.5% to about $640, pushing its weekly gain to 31.5% as privacy coins attracted renewed buying.
• NEAR advanced 8.6% to roughly $1.92, while Fetch.ai gained 5.59%. AI-related tokens are beginning to participate in the rally after lagging the wider market for most of August.
• Chainlink gained 8.2% to approximately $11.56, taking its weekly advance to around 32% and making LINK one of the strongest large-cap cryptocurrencies during the latest market surge.