- Bitcoin climbed to US$63,450 on Saturday before settling near US$62,700, the level of its closely watched 200-week moving average.
- A short squeeze drove the move, with about US$167 million in crypto positions liquidated over 24 hours as forced buying lifted the price.
- Traders flagged that the past seven Mondays have all delivered sell-offs, leaving the market split on whether the rally survives the new week.
Bitcoin (BTC) surged toward US$63,500 (AU$91,617) over the weekend on the back of a short squeeze, only for traders to caution that a punishing pattern of Monday sell-offs could unwind the gains as soon as markets reopen.
The token reached US$63,450 (AU$91,544) on Saturday amid thin order books over a three-day US holiday weekend, then consolidated near US$62,700 (AU$90,288).
That level marks its 200-week simple moving average, a long-term trend line analysts treat as a battleground between buyers and sellers.
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A Squeeze Incoming
The advance owed less to fresh buying than to traders being forced out of bearish bets. Roughly US$167 million (AU$240.48 million) in crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data, as rising prices triggered forced covering.
“Classic short squeeze, price grinds higher into a level everyone’s shorting until forced covering does the rest,” trader Daan Crypto Trades noted, questioning whether the 200-week average would now hold as support.
Fellow trader Exitpump flagged “stronger passive supply here pressing price from above,” a sign sellers were still active at higher levels.
Squeezes of this kind can lift prices sharply in hours, but they leave the rally resting on closed shorts rather than new conviction, which is why analysts treat the follow-through as more telling than the initial spike.
Markets are also pricing in roughly an 80% chance the Federal Reserve holds rates at its July 29 meeting, a backdrop that has historically favoured risk assets.
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