Blockchain Institutional Broadcast – 25 August 2026
Above Eighty, But Overbought
BTC's first $80k print since May extends the squeeze, with stops now feeding both directions.
BTC traded above $80,000 for the first time since May, up 3.3% on the 24h and 2.8% since Thursday's note to $79,772, with an $81,160 24h high before easing. Character is the same fuel as last week: a fourth straight up-session that took RSI(14) to 82.9, spot now 15% above its 200-day. SOL joined harder, up 8.8% since the last note to $100.2 and its own overbought extreme at 87. The bull case reads as early but optimistic, which lands right: this is still recovery, not confirmation.
The mechanism has flipped from pure short-cover toward continuation. Roughly $650m in liquidations ran over 24h, short-dominant at $457m against $190m longs, BTC carrying $333m, ETH $150m and SOL $22m as each new high ran another stop cluster. Monday's session added $338m of spot BTC ETF inflows plus $116m into ETH, the one non-mechanical leg underneath.
Dealer hedging turns supportive into $80-82k, where positioning concentrates, and one trader placed a $2.9m bet on a fast push through $82k. Vol is no longer priced for nothing, but the tape stays stretched. Wednesday's 12:30 UTC Core PCE and Prelim GDP are the near-term test. Overbought into a live print: the range now cuts both ways.
August 25, 2026 124
