Bitcoin maintained strong upward momentum on Thursday morning, approaching the $72,000 threshold as a macro rally ignited by a US Treasury announcement continued to gather strength. The price advance gained additional traction following supportive remarks from President Donald Trump during an August 19 meeting with financial executives and technology leaders.
Data from Bitstamp showed Bitcoin reaching a session high of $71,992, lifting its 24-hour gains past 11% and pushing its total market capitalization to $1.44 trillion. Buying pressure accelerated across spot and derivative exchanges as traders positioned for a formal break above key technical resistance.
Massive Derivatives Short Squeeze and Altcoin Outperformance
The sudden price surge caused severe disruption in the crypto derivatives market, decimating leveraged bearish positions. According to liquidation data from CoinGlass, liquidated short positions on Bitcoin topped $1.7 billion over a 24-hour window, up sharply from $1.1 billion recorded on Wednesday. Aggregate market-wide liquidations reached $3.35 billion, with short seller positions accounting for $3.07 billion of total wiped-out leverage.
Altcoins matched or exceeded Bitcoin’s upward trajectory.
Ethereum (ETH) spearheaded the altcoin rally, surging 19% to top out just under $2,320.
XRP, Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Zcash (ZEC) all secured double-digit daily gains.
Chainlink (LINK) rallied 9% to $10.86 after Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov addressed event delegates, building on earlier momentum following news that the State of Wyoming selected Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).
Policy Statements and Regulatory Legislation Debates
Speaking at the White House gathering alongside regulatory officials and digital asset executives, President Trump asserted that the United States is “leading by a lot” in both cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence development. He emphasized that maintaining American competitiveness in digital assets is essential when facing foreign economic rivals, explicitly highlighting ongoing competition with China.
Industry executives in attendance utilized the forum to urge lawmakers to advance the CLARITY Act, which remains pending in the US Senate. Market participants argued that passing the comprehensive legislation is critical to providing domestic firms with stable, long-term regulatory frameworks.
The event also generated market volatility when public references were made to specific protocols. Remarks regarding administrative efforts to facilitate the domestic operational onboarding of decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid triggered a speculative rally in its native token, HYPE. The asset surged toward $74, approaching its June 16 record high of $76.87.
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