The past 24 hours have been a real test for bears. The crypto market demonstrated a powerful upward impulse that caught most participants off guard and led to a massive wave of short position liquidations. I have carefully analyzed the dynamics and key triggers of this move, and the picture is extremely telling.
Bitcoin and Altcoins: A Rapid Surge
At the time of writing this review (09:05 Moscow time), Bitcoin is trading around $69,329. Over the day, the leading cryptocurrency made an impressive sprint, jumping from $64,000 to nearly $70,000, before correcting to current levels. The final gain over 24 hours amounted to a solid 8.09%. This is a classic example of how the release of important macroeconomic data and positive statements from politicians can instantly flip market sentiment.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, saw an even stronger jump. The ETH price soared by 17.42%, rising from overnight lows near $1,900 to $2,241. Altcoins in the top 20 also showed confident growth: Hyperliquid (HYPE) gained 22.25%, Solana (SOL) — 10.53%, XRP — 10.41%, and Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 6.80%. In the top 100, the best result was shown by Lighter (LIT) with a gain of 24.12%, followed by the aforementioned HYPE and Official Trump (TRUMP) with 17.93%. Only a few assets were in the red, and the declines were symbolic.
Fundamental Triggers and Institutional Interest
The key catalyst for this rally, in my view, was the minutes from the Federal Reserve's (Fed) July meeting. They showed that, despite inflation remaining above the 2% target, most committee members support keeping the current rate, although some advocate for a 0.25 percentage point hike. The regulator also noted risks to financial stability due to asset overvaluation in the AI sector. Nevertheless, the market perceived this as a risk-on signal, and capital actively flowed into digital assets.
Institutional investors confirmed their risk appetite. Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $517.19 million, Ethereum funds — $189.15 million, and XRP ETFs — $2.35 million. This is a powerful signal that large players see current prices as attractive for entry. At the same time, amid such a sharp reversal, positions of 170,195 traders were liquidated over the day, totaling $2.99 billion. The main blow fell on short sellers, who lost $2.74 billion versus a modest $255.77 million for long traders. The largest liquidation order was executed on Hyperliquid for the BTC-USD pair at $48.80 million.
Regulatory News and Corporate Events
In addition to market volatility, there were several important fundamental events. The American company BitGo became the first foreign crypto firm to receive a VASP license in South Korea directly, without purchasing a local player. This is a landmark event for the market, opening doors for other international custodians.
Meanwhile, the exchange OKX restricted its employees in Hong Kong from accessing Anthropic's AI model Claude. The reason was a temporary block of a corporate account in early August. The exchange's management acknowledged that some requests may have violated Anthropic's regional access rules, which prohibit the use of Claude in mainland China and Hong Kong. Notably, OKX spends between $6 and $8 million per month on AI models, highlighting the scale of AI integration into the operations of major crypto exchanges.
My view: The current growth looks like a classic "short squeeze" against a positive macroeconomic backdrop. However, given the persistent inflationary risks and the Fed's warnings about market overheating, I would not rule out heightened volatility in the coming days. The $70,000 level is key resistance for Bitcoin, and a successful hold above it will open the path to new all-time highs, but without this breakout, a correction is possible.