Anyone who bought Bitcoin at its record last October is still down by almost 38%. The best August since 2017 has barely dented that loss. Bitcoin traded at $78,729 (£57,702) late on Monday 24 August, up 22.6% in a week. That is its strongest seven-day gain since November 2024.
Forced buying started this rally, not fresh enthusiasm. Some traders had borrowed Bitcoin and sold it, betting the price would fall. When it rose instead, their exchanges shut those bets down automatically, and shutting one means buying the coin back at whatever it now costs. That buying pushes the price up again, which closes more bets. Coinglass counted more than $2.75B (£2.02B) of such positions wiped out on Wednesday 19 August.
