Bitcoin closed out the week of August 17-23 with a move few traders anticipated even a few days earlier. Bull Theory reported that the asset surged 23.56%, printing its largest weekly candle since March 2023, as price pushed toward $79,500 after spending much of the prior week pinned below $65,000. The rebound was corroborated on the fund-flow side: Whale Insider noted that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $1.92 billion in net inflows over the week, the strongest showing since October 2025.
A Rally Built on a Liquidation Cascade
The move didn't emerge from nowhere. Just days earlier, Coin Bureau tracked a brutal stretch in which $2.74 billion in short positions and $1.82 billion in long positions were wiped out inside 72 hours, with Bitcoin briefly sliding below $76,000 before the rebound began. That kind of two-sided liquidation flush, shorts first and then longs on the way back up, is typically the fuel for the kind of vertical move Bitcoin then produced, as traders caught leaning the wrong way were forced to cover into a thinning order book.
The catalyst traders pointed to was a Treasury announcement mid-week that it would expand its long-dated bond buyback program, a move that eased broader risk-asset positioning and pulled crypto along with equities. Bitcoin and ether ETFs together absorbed roughly $2.6 billion for the week, their strongest combined intake in about ten months.
Whales Repositioned on Both Sides
On-chain flows told a more divided story beneath the headline number. Lookonchain flagged a single whale wallet depositing 2,555 BTC, worth roughly $197 million, onto Binance about 13 hours before the rally accelerated, typically a signal of intent to sell into strength. At the same time, the firm also tracked Abraxas Capital building close to $783 million in short positions on Hyperliquid even as it withdrew 73,872 ETH, worth about $173 million, from Binance as a hedge, a bet that positions for downside while keeping a spot cushion against being wrong.
Related: Bitcoin's Bear-Market Bottom Question: What Chartists Are Watching
Calling the Turn
10x Research framed the move in its weekly note as confirmation that “Bitcoin’s Bull Market Is Officially Here,” pointing to the combination of flow data, positioning and macro backdrop as evidence the trend has shifted rather than produced a one-week squeeze. Whether that holds now depends on whether ETF demand can sustain itself without another liquidation-driven push, and whether whales who added exposure during the dip are willing to hold rather than distribute into the first real strength the market has shown in months.
