Bitcoin News

Story: Bitcoin Surges as $3 Billion in Short Bets Liquidated, $126K Target Set

By Steven Anderson

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ETF Inflows and the Blackrock Factor. Institutional money didn't sit this one out. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in about $1.

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Treasury Moves and the Macro Backdrop. There was also a macro tailwind that week. The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it would…

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Kendrick's Revised Outlook. Earlier in the year, Standard Chartered had cut its year-end Bitcoin target from $150,000 down to…

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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…

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Kendrick, who runs digital assets research at Standard Chartered as global head, laid it out in a recent report.

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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.

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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…

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Kendrick's framing on why Bitcoin keeps attracting buyers even as prices climb is worth sitting with.

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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…

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Related: Bitcoin Surges Past $75,000 as U.S. Treasurys Buyback Move Triggers Short Squeeze

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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…

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Related: Bitcoin ETF Inflows Surge to $517M, Driving Price to $72K After Treasury Moves

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