Bitcoin rallied past $81,000 on Saturday as a combination of short-covering and fresh spot buying pushed the flagship cryptocurrency sharply higher after a period of weakness tied to higher interest rates and a legislative setback in Washington.
The digital asset reached an intraday peak of $81,702 on Sept. 18, after trading near $76,400 the previous day. As of 22:50 ET (02:50 GMT) Bitcoin was quoted at $81,309.4, up 5.62% on the day. The move marked the first time the cryptocurrency traded above $80,000 since Sept. 7.
The rebound followed a challenging week for risk assets. The Federal Reserve increased interest rates by 25 basis points, and the Bank of Japan implemented a quarter-point rise taking its policy rate to 1.25% - its highest level in 31 years. Those developments initially pressured markets and sent Bitcoin toward the $75,000-$76,000 area.
However, the anticipated extended selloff in the wake of the BOJ decision did not materialize. Instead, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $159 million of inflows on Sept. 17, supplying additional direct buying pressure into the market.
Liquidity dynamics then amplified the recovery. A pronounced short squeeze accelerated the rally on Friday, with about $192 million of leveraged crypto positions liquidated within a single hour. More than $183 million of those liquidations were short positions, and Bitcoin-specific shorts made up roughly $119 million of the total liquidations.
Regulatory uncertainty remained a market headwind even as prices recovered. The U.S. Senate did not advance the CLARITY Act this week, leaving the legislative path for certain crypto measures unresolved. At the same time, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted a separate proposal on crypto markets to the White House Office of Management and Budget; details of that submission have not been disclosed.
Regulatory agencies also introduced targeted relief and pathways intended to bolster market structure. The Securities and Exchange Commission has put forward an innovation exemption that would allow qualifying platforms a five-year route to offer onchain trading in certain tokenized stocks without registering as securities exchanges. Separately, the CFTC issued relief that permits some software providers to connect users to regulated derivatives markets without registering as introducing brokers, although those permissions come with restrictions.
Market positioning and probability markets reflected cautious optimism after the rebound. A range of traders assigned an 84% probability to Bitcoin reaching $84,000 before dropping to $55,000. On Polymarket, the assessed chance of Bitcoin hitting $90,000 this year stood at 59%, while the probability of reaching $100,000 was 25%. The platform also placed a 48% probability on Bitcoin touching $70,000 before year-end.
Wider crypto market snapshot
- Ether rose 6.37% to $2,619.81.
- XRP gained 8.97% to $1.4238.
- Solana increased 10.54% to $113.57.
- BNB edged 1.78% higher to $762.00.
- Cardano advanced 8.93% to $0.2330.
- Dogecoin gained 6.62%.
- Meme tokens varied: TRUMP traded flat for the day, while Shiba Inu gained 3.98%.
These price moves across major altcoins accompanied Bitcoin’s rebound, reflecting broader risk-on flows into digital assets as short-covering and spot demand dominated intraday activity.
Market implications
Traders and market participants are watching how flows into spot ETFs and periodic forced liquidations influence price trajectories amid lingering regulatory and macroeconomic uncertainty. While the recent surge was sizable, market participants remain attentive to the interaction between policy decisions, legislative outcomes, and liquidity events that can rapidly reshape positions.