Bitcoin's price rallied past $86,000, achieving a 6% daily gain and lifting its market capitalization to $1.72 trillion. The move brought the asset within striking distance of its January 1 opening price of $87,575, narrowing year-to-date losses to less than 2%.
Two Waves of Buying Pressure
Bitcoin's price tapped $86,000 shortly after midmorning as the cryptocurrency built on Friday's momentum, when it reclaimed the $80,000 threshold. Market data show bitcoin experienced two distinct rallying waves, each pushing the price to a new multi-month high.
The first wave saw bitcoin's price rally from $81,525 to just over $85,250 within two hours. An ensuing sell-off dragged the price down to $81,150 around 6:40 a.m. EST, but the dip was short-lived, with price climbing back above $85,000 less than two hours later.
The second surge pushed the price to a session high of $86,332 before retreating to strong support above $85,700. As of the time of reporting, bitcoin hovered above $85,800, less than $1,300 shy of its January 1 price.
Short Liquidations Fuel Rally
According to Coinglass data, more than $454 million in bitcoin short positions were liquidated within 24 hours, compared to nearly $53 million in long positions. Across the broader cryptocurrency market, nearly $782 million in short bets were liquidated, compared to $144 million in longs.
Spot and perpetual buyers spearheaded the rally, with taker flow on exchanges flipping from net selling to net buying while volume and momentum turned positive. Futures open interest and funding rates both sit above their high bands, indicating leverage is building alongside elevated options open interest near $41 billion.
On-Chain Signals and ETF Headwinds
On-chain profitability has surged, with approximately two-thirds of the supply now in profit and capital flows remaining constructive as monthly changes in realized cap indicate new capital entering at higher prices.
ETF demand remains the primary outlier trailing the spot market, with weekly net flows remaining negative at roughly $300 million despite increased ETF trading volume.
