Bitcoin surges toward $70,000 in the largest short squeeze since 2021, liquidating over $1 billion in bets. Here’s what’s next for BTC price and where early-stage plays like LiquidChain fit in.
By Daniel Francis
Editor CoinSpeaker Editorial Team
Updated
3 mins read
Bitcoin is trading close to $70,000, jumping by 8% on the day, running to a price level it hadn’t touched since early June. Wednesday’s storm was anything but quiet, and the mechanics behind it explain why a handful of early-stage projects are suddenly getting a second look from traders who missed the squeeze.
Bitcoin surged, triggering the biggest wave of short liquidations on record dating back to 2021. CoinGlass data cited in the report shows more than $1 billion in bitcoin shorts wiped out in just an hour, part of a record $2.7 billion in bearish crypto bets erased across the market.
🔥MASSIVE: Crypto just recorded the SECOND-LARGEST short liquidation wipeout on record, surpassed only by the October 10 crash.
October 10, 2025: $2.46 BILLION
August 19, 2026: $1.74 BILLION pic.twitter.com/VugkRU6sLv— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) August 19, 2026
The rally coincided with a White House meeting between President Trump and crypto executives from Coinbase, Payward, and Blockchain.com, alongside an SEC proposal this week to exempt certain digital-asset offerings from securities registration.
Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, called it a short-covering-driven move toward $70,000 that “suggests buyers are regaining confidence,” though he flagged the real test as whether momentum can carry price to the $75,000 region.
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BTC’s push through $69,200 resistance, a level flagged in recent Coinspeaker coverage of the $70K target, appears to have flipped a multi-week consolidation range into a bullish breakout. Volume around the liquidation spike was unusually thick for a single-hour window. It was consistent with forced short-covering rather than organic spot demand.
Support now sits at $64,000-$65,500, the former resistance ceiling of the ascending triangle that held through early August. The 50-day simple moving average near $62,000 and the 200-day near $59,000 form deeper backstops.
BTC/USD, Tradingview
The volatility conditions behind the squeeze suggest one-sided positioning had built up over months of grinding losses, which is precisely the fuel that produces this kind of overshoot.
In a perfect world, a close above $70,000 opens a run at the June 2026 swing high near $71,200 and eventually the $73,000-$78,350 all-time-high zone. Or, Bitcoin continues to consolidate between $65,000 and $70,000 while the market digests the squeeze. However, a failure to hold $64,000 support reopens the low-$60,000s.
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A billion dollars in shorts liquidated in an hour validates anyone who stayed long through the summer chop. But at a $1.3 trillion-plus market cap, Bitcoin’s next leg to $75,000 represents just 7% upside from here. It’s real money, sure, but not the kind of asymmetric return that reshapes a portfolio. That’s the gap early-stage infrastructure plays are built to fill.
Writing the next layer into existence. 🪶https://t.co/vqvBcdSQYC pic.twitter.com/nOCpXbl30D
— LiquidChain (@getliquidchain) August 14, 2026
LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is a Layer 3 infrastructure project positioning itself as the cross-chain liquidity layer, fusing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single execution environment.
Current presale price sits at $0.01492, with $940K raised so far. The pitch centers on a Unified Liquidity Layer and Single-Step Execution. With Liquid, developers deploy once and reach all three ecosystems rather than building separate integrations for each chain. Verifiable settlement and a deploy-once architecture round out the technical claims.
Those tracking the Bitcoin-driven risk-on shift may want to research LiquidChain while presale pricing holds.
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Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
Daniel Frances is a technical writer and Web3 educator specializing in macroeconomics and DeFi mechanics. A crypto native since 2017, Daniel leverages his background in on-chain analytics to author evidence-based reports and deep-dive guides. He holds certifications from The Blockchain Council, and is dedicated to providing "information gain" that cuts through market hype to find real-world blockchain utility.
