A sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices over the past 24 hours triggered the largest wave of forced short-position liquidations in months, with short sellers losing a total of $665.81 million, according to analytics platform CoinGlass. XRP and NEAR led the altcoin squeeze that drove the liquidations. The figure represents the largest such wave of forced short-position liquidations recorded in months.
Cathie Wood's ARK Sells $60 Million in Crypto Stocks Days Before SEC Innovation Exemption
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest sold roughly $60 million of crypto-linked equities into last week's regulatory-driven rally, including about $4 million in Bitmine and about $700,000 in Bullish, with the sales spanning Circle, Coinbase, Bitmine and Bullish plus a large slug of ARK's spot bitcoin ETF. Four days after those sales, the SEC unveiled a five-year Innovation Exemption that lets platforms trade tokenized U.S. equities without full exchange registration, and Coinbase jumped again. Coinbase closed at $194.25 on September 18, up 10.84% on the week and 21.25% on the month, but still down 43.39% over the past year, while its Q2 2026 revenue of $1.22 billion fell 18.5% year over year and missed consensus, with a GAAP loss of $1.36 per share against a $0.23 estimate. Coinbase's market share hit an all-time high of 10.3%, services revenue held at $555 million, or 48% of net revenue, and adjusted EBITDA was positive for a 14th consecutive quarter, while Strategy trades as a levered proxy on Bitcoin, which is down 29.03% year over year at $81,820.97, and miner MARA Holdings carries pure Bitcoin beta with none of Coinbase's subscription cushion. Prediction markets price the Clarity Act becoming law in 2026 at just 0.066, with the No outcome at 0.934, and Polymarket assigns a 0.555 probability of Coinbase leading in the U.S. on tokenized equities.
Bitcoin Hits 8-Month High of $85,326 as $383 Million in Shorts Liquidated
Bitcoin climbed to an eight-month high of $85,326.10 on Sep. 21, its strongest level since late January, according to CoinGecko. The leading cryptocurrency gained 6% in 24 hours, lifted by forced buying from a short squeeze that liquidated roughly $383 million in Bitcoin short positions over the past day, per the onchain analytics platform CoinGlass. Across all cryptocurrencies, more than $781 million in positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, of which $659 million were shorts. Ether rose 6% to $2,731.56 and XRP gained 7.8% to $1.48, while Hyperliquid's HYPE token hit a new all-time high of $95.99 after the decentralized exchange rolled out a loan feature allowing users to borrow USDC and USDT against HYPE or Bitcoin collateral. Strategy bought 950 Bitcoin for $75.7 million during Sep. 14-20 and now holds 846,000 BTC, while Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought 27,562 Ether last week and now holds 5,983,940 ETH. The rally followed the failure of the Senate cloture vote on the CLARITY Act and the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike since 2023, after which the Trump administration made several pro-crypto moves, including the SEC's five-year Innovation Exemption for tokenized U.S. stocks, a CFTC no-action position for certain software developers, the House Ways and Means Committee's passage of the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, and the House Financial Services Committee's passage of the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Bitcoin was trading at $84,999 at the time of writing, per Decibel.
Bitcoin surges past $86,000 as analysts eye $90,000 target
Bitcoin surged past the $86,000 level today, touching its highest point since January. As of 10:07 p.m. Thailand time, Bitcoin had climbed 6.04% to $86,088.80 in trading on the Coin Metrics platform, while analysts expect Bitcoin to potentially push up to the $90,000 level. Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise, told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe that the "crypto winter" is over and predicted this will become the strongest and longest bull market in crypto history. Over the past five days, Bitcoin's price has risen more than 7%, and over the past three months it has climbed nearly 35%. Analysts at BTIG said in a report that as long as Bitcoin remains above the $75,000 level, the bulls can set a target for the price to break through $82,000 on its way toward $90,000. Bitcoin's rally came even after the U.S. Senate last week blocked the Clarity Act from moving forward. Hougan said the bill's failure to pass the Senate could also be a supportive factor for crypto prices, since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will continue to set the rules.
