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Bitcoin is moving fast. A brutal short squeeze — the biggest on record, per Coinglass data — has torched bearish positions and sent prices to their highest level since May, with Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick now putting $126,000 back on the table as a realistic year-end target.
Kendrick, who runs digital assets research at Standard Chartered as global head, laid it out in a recent report. Rising prices forced traders holding leveraged short bets to close those positions, which pushed prices higher, which then triggered more closures. Classic cascade. Coinglass data put the total short liquidations between August 19 and August 21 at nearly $1.44 billion — the largest such event ever recorded for Bitcoin. And when you add in the broader short-position damage, the total wipeout for traders betting against Bitcoin hit roughly $3 billion. That’s not a bad week if you were on the right side.
ETF Inflows and the Blackrock Factor
Institutional money didn’t sit this one out. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in about $1.92 billion in net inflows over five days through August 21. The strongest single session was August 20, which brought in $606.29 million. Blackrock’s IBIT led the charge, accounting for $502.99 million of that day’s total alone. Pretty much one fund carrying the bulk of the institutional flow on the hottest day of the rally.
Bitcoin’s price hit $79,500 on August 21 — its highest print since May. It had already broken past $70,000 on August 19, the same day the White House hosted a crypto event where President Donald Trump pushed for passage of the CLARITY Act. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was there and also backed the legislation. The timing of that event and the price move aren’t lost on anyone watching the market.
Kendrick’s framing on why Bitcoin keeps attracting buyers even as prices climb is worth sitting with. He calls Bitcoin a “Giffen good” for long-term investors — meaning higher prices don’t scare them off, they actually pull more of them in. That’s a somewhat unusual dynamic compared to most assets, but it’s basically what Bitcoin has done repeatedly across market cycles.
Treasury Moves and the Macro Backdrop
There was also a macro tailwind that week. The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it would expand liquidity buybacks for government securities, doubling the maximum purchase size per operation to $4 billion. That kind of move tends to loosen financial conditions broadly, and it landed at exactly the right moment for risk assets including crypto.
Kendrick tied the macro shift directly to the Bitcoin rally. The Treasury’s timing aligned with the price surge, and he sees the combination of easier liquidity conditions and renewed crypto enthusiasm as reinforcing each other. It’s not a simple one-cause story — it’s several things hitting at once.
He also made an interesting observation about attention cycles. The artificial intelligence investment theme had been pulling a lot of market focus earlier in the year. With that theme perhaps cooling slightly, some of that investor attention seems to be rotating back toward cryptocurrency. Whether that’s a durable shift or just a short-term trade is unclear, but it probably explains some of the speed of the move.
Kendrick’s Revised Outlook
Earlier in the year, Standard Chartered had cut its year-end Bitcoin target from $150,000 down to $100,000. Macroeconomic concerns and expected fund selling drove that revision. But Kendrick’s current read is different. ETF holders, he says, now look more like buyers than sellers. And with futures open interest sitting comparatively low, there’s still room for derivatives activity to build — which could amplify price moves in either direction, though Kendrick is careful to say that open interest alone doesn’t set price direction.
So the $126,000 figure is back. Not as a guarantee. More as a plausible overshoot scenario if the momentum holds and the investor enthusiasm that’s driving things right now doesn’t fade.
Short traders got wrecked. ETF buyers had a great week. And Kendrick is watching futures open interest as the next signal for how much further this can run.
Blackrock’s IBIT pulled in $502.99 million in a single session on August 20.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused Bitcoin’s record short liquidation event in August?
Between August 19 and August 21, nearly $1.44 billion in leveraged short positions were liquidated, per Coinglass data, as rising prices forced automatic closures that triggered further buying and additional liquidations in a cascade effect.
How much did Blackrock’s IBIT ETF bring in during the rally?
Blackrock’s IBIT accounted for $502.99 million of the $606.29 million in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows recorded on August 20, the strongest single day of the five-day rally.
Why It Matters
The recent short squeeze highlights the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, demonstrating how quickly sentiment can shift in response to price movements. As bearish positions are liquidated, it underscores the potential for rapid upward price momentum, attracting more attention from both institutional and retail investors. The mention of a $126,000 target by a major financial institution further emphasizes the growing optimism surrounding Bitcoin's recovery and its implications for broader market trends.
