Bitcoin Reclaims $65K Range

On Friday, bitcoin finally breached the $65,000 threshold amid escalating rhetoric surrounding BIP 110 and threats of another hard fork. Bitstamp data shows the cryptocurrency peaked at $65,340—its highest point in August so far and its first return to that level since July 27. Before 4:00 a.m. EST, however, the cryptocurrency had been gradually declining, with selling pressure briefly pulling it down to $64,132.

A strong rally followed, pushing bitcoin up by over $1,000 in just five hours to reach its daily peak. Although it retreated below $64,800 around 10:10 a.m. EST, a subsequent relief rally sent it rocketing past $65,000 for the second time. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading just below that mark, bringing its daily gains to 0.5%.

Despite the relatively flat price action, the movement pushed bitcoin’s market capitalization back past $1.3 trillion. The marginal daily gain capped off a 3.3% weekly rise during a turbulent period in which controversy over the CLARITY Act reached a crescendo.

In the derivatives market, short liquidations topped $30 million for the second consecutive day, while long liquidations neared $8 million. Across the broader crypto economy, total liquidations hit $192 million, with short wipes accounting for just under $112 million.

Meanwhile, hopes for the passage of the CLARITY Act before the U.S. Senate recess were dashed when Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced plans to revisit the topic in September. While a setback for the crypto industry—which had framed the bill as a crucial milestone under the Trump administration—some market participants brushed off the potential negative impact.

However, regulatory debate was not the only issue shaping discussions around Bitcoin’s future. The controversial BIP 110 proposal reached a fever pitch after prominent Core developer Luke Dashjr suggested on X that if BIP 110 fails to gain traction, changing Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism would be “the only option”—a stance that underscored the growing risk of a potential chain split.

“If BIP110 doesn’t pan out, the only option is a PoW change,” he wrote on X when asked about the proposal’s potential failure.

Others warn that if miners don’t back the proposal, this has deep implications for bitcoin, which has retained its status as the number one decentralized network despite challenges including the 2017 hard fork.

Echoing the urgency, itcoiner Nithu Sezni asserted that if miners refuse to activate BIP 110, bitcoin effectively becomes a centralized “shitcoin.” Sezni argued that if six major mining pools can block the proposal and collude to dictate network rules, decentralization is lost—leaving node runners vulnerable to blockchain bloat and state capture before hyperbitcoinization can occur.

Still, much like the legislative back-and-forth over the CLARITY Act, the BIP 110 debate appears to have had a limited impact on bitcoin’s price. In fact, some market observers suggest bitcoin’s upward trend ahead of the BIP 110 deadline is driven by investors accumulating coins in anticipation of a potential hard fork—a scenario that would automatically grant them equivalent tokens on the split chain.

Bitcoin Holds Above $64,500 as Short Liquidations Drop

Bitcoin briefly approached $65,000 on Thursday, holding support above $64,500 despite intraday pullbacks to $64,144 and bringing its gains since…

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Bitcoin Holds Above $64,500 as Short Liquidations Drop

Bitcoin briefly approached $65,000 on Thursday, holding support above $64,500 despite intraday pullbacks to $64,144 and bringing its gains since…

Read Now

Bitcoin Holds Above $64,500 as Short Liquidations Drop

Read Now

Bitcoin briefly approached $65,000 on Thursday, holding support above $64,500 despite intraday pullbacks to $64,144 and bringing its gains since…

Bitcoin (BTC +0.40%) may be down, but it’s not out. A surprising number of analysts and investors now think that it could reclaim the $100,000 price level by the end of the year.

In July, Standard Chartered (SCBFY -0.22%) doubled down on its $100,000 price target, calling Bitcoin a “screaming buy” at its current price level of $64,000. While Bitcoin is known for its spectacular year-end rallies, does it really have enough left in the tank to soar 56% by the end of the year?

Key factors for Bitcoin

According to Standard Chartered, Bitcoin’s price has been held down this year by all the hand-wringing over the financial condition of Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strategy (MSTR -1.54%). Instead of hoarding its Bitcoin, Strategy is now selling some of it, and that has spooked investors.

At the same time, a number of Bitcoin-focused companies are now pivoting into artificial intelligence. Take Bitcoin miners, for example. Bitcoin was fun while it lasted, but now it’s time to move into the next “hot” sector. Some Bitcoin miners are dumping their Bitcoin and then using those funds to buy the computing infrastructure necessary for AI.

But this is only a short-term problem, says Standard Chartered. It fully expects the situation around Strategy to stabilize. And given the growing concerns about an AI bubble, it’s quite possible that some of the companies that pivoted into AI may soon pivot back to crypto.

Moreover, inflows into Bitcoin ETFs appear to be returning. For much of the year, money has been flowing out of these spot Bitcoin ETFs, as investors move their money elsewhere. But those outflows appear to have peaked. Slowly but surely, institutional investors are moving money back into Bitcoin, and that should help to boost its price going forward.

Bitcoin’s cycle of boom and bust

And don’t forget — Bitcoin is highly cyclical. Yes, Bitcoin is down a stunning 49% from its October 2025 peak. But crypto investors have seen this story before. During previous market cycles, the total drawdown in Bitcoin has been as high as 94%. Each time, however, Bitcoin has recovered.

Today’s Change

(0.40%) $258.90

Current Price

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$64,793.00

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.3TMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.

Day’s Range

$64114.00 – $64900.00

52wk Range

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$57945.16 – $126079.89

Volume

18.7B

In fact, after every major drawdown, Bitcoin has more than recovered. It has marched to a new all-time high. Take the last Bitcoin bear market cycle, for example. Bitcoin lost 64% of its value in 2022 and fell as low as $16,000. However, by the end of 2024, it was already trading at the $100,000 price level.

Is it too much to hope for a similar type of stellar comeback for Bitcoin? Perhaps. But I’m still expecting a major year-end rally for Bitcoin to send it past the $100,000 price level. It’s exactly the type of unstoppable cryptocurrency that I’m looking to add to my portfolio right now.

Market Momentum and Intraday Volatility

Bitcoin nearly reached $65,000 on Thursday as the cryptocurrency’s gradual rise, albeit a slower one since the start of the month, showed no signs of slowing. Although selling pressure weighed on the market at times, bitcoin’s daily chart showed support above $64,500 during pullbacks.

However, bitcoin slipped below that threshold in two separate trading sessions. The first drop occurred between 9 p.m. and midnight, when the price fell to around $64,480 or lower. While bitcoin rallied past $64,900 by 1:30 a.m. EST, a similar pattern emerged shortly after 8 a.m., when the asset dropped to a 24-hour low of $64,144.

A swift rebound erased those losses, pushing bitcoin back past $64,800. At the time of writing, the asset was trading above $64,500, up 0.2% on the day. Since the start of the month, bitcoin’s U.S. dollar value has risen by more than $2,000, or roughly 3%.

Despite the modest daily gain, bitcoin’s market capitalization stood just a few million dollars shy of $1.3 trillion. The rise also helped lift the broader crypto economy’s market cap toward $2.29 trillion. In the derivatives market, bitcoin’s price action led to fewer liquidations. Liquidated short positions totaled more than $30 million—a drop of over 10% from Wednesday’s $35 million. Total liquidations across the broader crypto market reached $212 million, split almost evenly between short and long positions.

While controversy surrounding the CLARITY Act and Middle East geopolitical tensions have influenced bitcoin’s trajectory in recent weeks, market sentiment seemed weighed down Thursday by debate over BIP 110 and a potential chain split. On social platforms like X, opinions remain sharply divided. Proponents contend that BIP 110 is necessary to prune non-financial spam, reduce node operating costs, and preserve Bitcoin’s primary role as a monetary network.

Conversely, a vocal majority of traders and developers strongly oppose the measure. Opponents warn of chain split risks, protocol-level censorship, and disruptions to the Ordinals and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, expressing concern that governance friction could stifle market momentum.

Some traders, however, see potential upside. If the proposal results in a network split into two distinct chains, investors holding bitcoin prior to the snapshot date expect to receive an equivalent balance of the new token on the split chain. This expectation often drives pre-fork buying pressure, establishing price floors as traders accumulate the asset to claim the newly created token.

Conversely, if buying is driven solely by snapshot eligibility, a wave of profit-taking will likely follow the fork’s execution, triggering short-term pullbacks. Still, once the hard fork is complete and technical uncertainty resolves, bitcoin typically resumes its broader macroeconomic upward trend—a pattern likely to reassure cautious investors.