Bitcoin surged past the $71,000 threshold, posting a 24-hour gain of 11.50 percent and reaching $71,875.32. The sharp upward movement marked Bitcoin's strongest single-day performance since February 2026 and was driven by a wave of heavy short covering across major exchanges.
Trading volume climbed to $65.6 billion as buyers overwhelmed leveraged short positions. Analysts traced the catalyst for the rally back to the U.S. Treasury market, where officials doubled the maximum size of long-term bond buyback operations from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. The expanded purchases target bonds maturing in 10 to 30 years.
Following the Treasury announcement, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped 6 basis points to 4.647 percent, and the 30-year yield fell 9 basis points to 5.196 percent. The falling yields pushed capital toward risk assets, prompting Bitcoin to climb rapidly from near $65,400 to $69,700 within minutes.
Extreme Liquidation Event Wipes Out Shorts
The sudden price increase triggered a massive short squeeze, resulting in an extreme liquidation event across the cryptocurrency market. Total crypto liquidations reached $1.59 billion over a 24-hour period, with Bitcoin short positions alone accounting for $746 million of the total.
Binance recorded its largest short squeeze since introducing Bitcoin futures contracts, liquidating over $311 million in short positions on the platform in a matter of hours. Market observers noted that the forced buying by traders attempting to limit losses created a feedback loop, accelerating the upward price movement and triggering further margin calls.
