• Bitcoin has advanced almost 24% since Monday, reaching the price target projected by its inverse head-and-shoulders breakout, even as bearish traders continue to position against the rally.
• BTC climbed to nearly $79,400 on Friday, marking an 8.8% gain since midnight UTC. The move extended the rally sparked by Wednesday’s U.S. Treasury announcement, with Bitcoin later trading just below $78,000.
• The Treasury’s decision to expand its bond-buyback operations provided another boost to the market. Bitcoin has now risen for five consecutive sessions, putting it on pace for its strongest weekly gain since March 2023.
• Around $3.3 billion in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated Wednesday, followed by another $1.25 billion in liquidations during the next 24 hours, CoinGlass data showed.
• The Altcoin Season Index declined to 33 from 36 as Bitcoin’s dominance rose to 59.9%. Still, several altcoins outpaced BTC, with ENA gaining 13% since midnight, ZEC rising 12.5%, and NEAR and LINK adding roughly 8%.
• Bitcoin has cleared the approximately $76,000 target indicated by the inverse head-and-shoulders formation that developed from the June lows. With the technical target reached and RSI entering overbought territory, traders could see some near-term profit-taking.

Derivatives Positioning

• The Dollar Index was trading around 98.77, slightly below its August peak. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.43% after the index had lagged the broader crypto market.
• Crypto liquidations totaled roughly $1.24 billion over the latest 24-hour period, down 62% from Thursday’s high. Short positions represented about $1.06 billion of those liquidations, while longs accounted for approximately $178 million. More than 152,000 traders were liquidated.
• The largest single liquidation was a $23.59 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid.
• Bitcoin’s combined long-short account ratio stood at 0.865, indicating that short accounts still outnumbered long accounts. Traders have repeatedly bet against the rally over the past four sessions and have been forced to cover, leaving additional fuel for a potential squeeze.
• Total open interest across crypto derivatives rose 6.17% to $139.37 billion. BTC futures open interest increased 7.38% to $57.7 billion, while total Bitcoin open interest reached $25.06 billion, its highest point since June.
• The increase suggests traders are adding leveraged exposure as Bitcoin rises rather than stepping away from the market.
• Bitcoin’s projected funding rate reached 0.013%, potentially its highest level since January.
• XRP posted the largest repositioning among major cryptocurrencies. Its 24-hour volume jumped 139%, while open interest increased 15.5% as XRP rallied 19%.
• CryptoQuant’s 30-day apparent spot demand has recovered from a negative 206,000 BTC on July 23 to around negative 5,000 BTC. The measure is now close to moving into positive territory for the first time since Feb. 26.
• CryptoQuant’s historical analysis indicates that Bitcoin has delivered a median 18% gain over the following 60 days after spot demand turns positive, with a 78% success rate. When the crossover occurs while MVRV remains below its 365-day moving average, the median return has been 23%, with an 87% success rate.
• The firm warned that the historical sample is small and that the latest crossover has not yet been confirmed.
• It also found that a similar shift in perpetual futures demand has offered almost no predictive advantage. That makes continued spot-market buying a key factor in determining whether the rally can survive after forced short covering ends.

Altcoins Gain Momentum

• ENA jumped 13% since midnight to around $0.132, extending its 24-hour gain to about 42% and its weekly rise to 56%.
• Ethena’s token rallied after the protocol announced a $1 billion secured warehouse facility with FalconX. The facility puts USDe-backed assets to work in overcollateralized institutional credit and reduces reliance on the crypto basis trade. Trading volume reached about $622 million.
• Zcash gained 12.5% to approximately $640, taking its weekly advance to 31.5% as demand returned to privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.
• NEAR climbed 8.6% to roughly $1.92, while Fetch.ai added 5.59%. AI-linked tokens have started catching up with the wider market after lagging through most of August.
• Chainlink rose 8.2% to about $11.56, bringing its weekly gain to approximately 32% and making LINK one of the strongest large-cap tokens in the current rally.