Bitcoin clears $85,000 for the first time since January as shorts get run over
A more than 5% surge in 24 hours pushed bitcoin to its highest level since January, triggering over $750 million in liquidations and cutting its 2026 losses to under 3%.
Bitcoin briefly traded above $85,000 on Monday, its highest level since January and a sharp reversal from where it stood less than a week earlier. The token gained more than 5% in 24 hours, extending a climb that took it from around $75,000 on September 15 to above $80,000 by Friday and past $85,000 to start the new week.
Why the shorts got caught out
CoinGlass tracked more than $750 million in liquidations across crypto markets over the 24-hour period, with short positions accounting for roughly $648 million of that total — traders who had bet on further declines being forced out as the price moved against them. Bitcoin positions alone made up over $360 million of the liquidated total, including a single $11.3 million order on Binance.
What's actually driving it
The rally lines up with a broader risk-on mood rather than any crypto-specific catalyst: Asian and European equities advanced, oil prices eased, and traders pointed to a potential Trump-Xi meeting later in the week as a reason for improved sentiment. Ether, XRP and Solana all posted larger percentage gains than bitcoin over the same period, with ether up 5.6% to $2,717 and Solana up 7.2% to $115.75 — a pattern more consistent with a market-wide risk rally than a bitcoin-specific story.
Bitcoin remains about 32.5% below its October all-time high near $126,000, and is now down less than 3% for the year — a very different picture than the "worst month of the year" framing that applied just a week earlier.
Source: The Block