Bitcoin clears $73,000 as shorts take $679 million in liquidations

Bitcoin traded through $73,000 on the 20th of August, 2026, at roughly 20:44 UTC, according to Cointelegraph's markets desk. The move capped a 36-hour stretch in which the largest digital asset by market capitalisation had briefly hit $71,000 at around 08:14 UTC the same day and $66,000 the previous afternoon, with the cycle's largest single day of short liquidations arriving as the price pushed through the $70,000 mark on the 19th of August.

The point worth holding onto is not the headline price but the asymmetry of the unwind. Over the past 24 hours as of 22:01 UTC on the 20th, more than $861 million in crypto positions were liquidated across the complex, with $679.5 million of that sitting on the short side, per Cointelegraph. The traders betting against the rally got paid back in a single tape. That kind of one-directional flush is closer to a regime event than a routine volatility print.

What the tape actually shows

The move arrived in two steps. First, a roughly 11-hour grind from $66,000 at 15:08 UTC on the 19th of August to the $70,000 trigger on the same day at 21:51 UTC. That trigger alone forced about $2.5 billion in short liquidations in the 24 hours around it, Cointelegraph reported. Then, overnight into the 20th, the price cooled to $71,000 at 08:14 UTC before resuming the climb through the $73,000 print at 20:44 UTC.

Monexus read of the sequencing is that the short book had been built for a different tape. Once $70,000 broke, the liquidations themselves became buying pressure, because forced closeouts on shorts are by definition market orders to buy back in. Whether that feedback loop persists depends on how much short inventory is left to clear at higher strikes.

VanEck's capitulation thesis

VanEck's Matthew Sigel told Cointelegraph on the 20th that he still expects Bitcoin to reach $100,000 next year and could see $500,000 by 2029 if the cycle plays out as usual. The same firm published a note the previous day arguing the asset is approaching the end of its correction phase.

The mechanism the firm highlights is a capitulation signal stack: eight of twelve tracked signals are now firing, and long-term holders have shed 356,000 BTC over the past month, per Cointelegraph's write-up of the VanEck analysis. In market-structure terms, that combination historically lines up with the back end of bear-market distribution rather than mid-cycle chop. Long-term holders selling into weak hands is the textbook late-stage hand-off; the open question is whether the demand side that absorbs those coins is durable.

Counterpoint: extrapolation is not evidence

The bullish case rests on a recurring cycle pattern. The bearish or merely cautious case rests on the observation that every previous trigger run has eventually broken; that $500,000 is a multi-cycle projection resting on assumptions about inflows, regulation and the macro backdrop that cannot be verified today; and that long-term-holder selling, even in volume, is just one of twelve signals the firm tracks, with four still dark.

Forecasts inside desk copy are a forecast, not a forecast of fact. Sigel's $100,000 2027 and $500,000 2029 framing is a published target, and Monexus treats it as such. The structure that supports it is real; the endpoints are conditional.

What to watch next

The clearest forward marker is the remaining four of twelve capitulation signals VanEck tracks. If those four fire on the present trajectory, the late-cycle thesis hardens. If they do not, the move has the shape of a relief rally inside a broader range rather than a new impulse leg.

The second marker is the funding rate. A short squeeze of the size Cointelegraph reports tends to leave the perp basis inflated for days afterward, which then drags spot back as arbitrage tightens. Watch whether $73,000 holds on a retest with positive funding, or whether the same buyers who got squeezed become the sellers at the next pivot.

The third marker is the high-timeframe hand-off. Long-term holders shed 356,000 BTC over the past month, per the VanEck note. The size of that flow matters more than the headline price. If absorption continues to come from new spot ETF allocations rather than leveraged retail, the rally has a sturdier spine. If it comes from leverage, the next pullback will look a lot like the last one, just higher on the chart.

Monexus framed this as a market-structure story rather than a price-print story. Wire headlines emphasised the $73,000 level; the more durable point is the $2.5 billion short squeeze on 19 August and the eight-of-twelve capitulation signal count from VanEck.

Wire provenance

This editorial synthesis draws on the following public wire/social posts:

• https://t.me/Cointelegraph/71717
• https://t.me/Cointelegraph/71715
• https://t.me/Cointelegraph/71713
• https://t.me/Cointelegraph/71706
• https://t.me/cointelegraph/71701
• https://t.me/cointelegraph/71695
• https://t.me/cointelegraph/71685