- Bitcoin surged 26% from $62,900 to $79,500 in five days, liquidating $3.1 billion in shorts in one of the largest short squeezes in recent memory
- Traders warn that $12 billion in long positions now sit vulnerable below current prices, with market makers potentially targeting those positions
- Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick now sees risk that his $100,000 year-end forecast is too low, while other analysts call a pullback overdue
Bitcoin staged a dramatic 26% rally from $62,900 to $79,500 between August 16 and August 21, liquidating $3.1 billion in short positions and triggering what one trader called a classic short squeeze. The move, which left bitcoin near $77,000 on Saturday, came after five days of relentless buying that caught bears off guard.
“This wasn’t an organic rally. It was a classic short squeeze,” the trader MARMOT posted to 114,000 views on Friday, noting that $3.1 billion in shorts were wiped out. The trader added that retail investors are now FOMO-ing in hard, convinced the bottom is in, while more than $12 billion in longs sit just below current prices.
Charan Dangeti, a content creator working with paper trading app GameStock, argued that retail traders now wield more influence over markets than many believe. “With the rise of zero DTE options, retail actually has more influence over the markets than you would think,” Dangeti said in an interview.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered‘s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, warned that his $100,000 year-end forecast may now be too low. “For the first time this year there is now a risk my end year forecast (of USD100k) is too low,” Kendrick wrote, noting that the recovery appears to be accelerating.
“Everyone Calling for $100k Now!” wrote the trader ABU CARTEL, who told 61,000 followers that a pullback is very much needed after the move fully rekt the shorts. The trader set his short target range at $78,900 to $86,975, with $100k coming only above $87,000.
Trader David Goldstein, posting as WagsCap, argued that the squeeze fuel is largely spent and that bitcoin is likely to top out in the $85,000 to $90,000 zone before fading back to $55,000 to $65,000 or consolidating around $70,000 to $75,000. “I wouldn’t jump in right now just because of FOMO,” the trader Crypto Kit wrote, noting that nothing prevents the market from pulling back 10% from here.
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