US Treasury Buyback Expansion Lifts Bitcoin (BTC) Past $72K

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed above $72,000 on Aug. 20, extending a rally driven by the US Treasury's plan to at least double its liquidity-support buybacks for long-dated government bonds. The move diverged sharply from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down more than 700 points as 10-year Treasury yields approached 4.7%. Analysts said the split underlined Bitcoin's renewed appeal as an alternative asset alongside gold, with the traditional safe-haven premium on US debt under pressure after federal borrowing surpassed $40 trillion. President Donald Trump urged Congress to advance the Clarity Act, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called the Sept. 15 Senate procedural vote the market's next major catalyst.

Market participants remained split on whether the breakout can sustain itself. Analysts on Benjamin Cowen’s Aug. 20 broadcast said the opening move was largely a short squeeze, with roughly $2.6 billion in bearish positions forced to close, and argued that covering alone rarely starts a durable bull market. They pointed to more than $500 million in net inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs as early evidence of institutional demand, and said the $65,000-$67,000 zone that previously capped gains could become support on a retest. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s buyback expansion was read as a confidence signal rather than quantitative easing. Longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff dismissed the rally as a “fakeout, not a breakout” and repeated his advice to buy gold.

Bitcoin added nearly 15% between Monday and Thursday as derivatives data showed more than $3 billion in crypto shorts liquidated, the largest BTC short wipeout since at least 2021. Spot Bitcoin ETFs took in about $517 million on Aug. 19, the strongest daily inflow since May. Several analysts cautioned that much of Wednesday’s gain occurred in a single hour when one-sided shorts were forced out, and that the next leg must be bought rather than squeezed. Nansen’s Nicolai Sondergaard put the 200-day moving average near $69,000 as the breakout line, while CoinShares’ James Butterfill called $80,000 the key upside boundary. CryptoQuant’s profit-and-loss index and bull score had not yet turned bullish, leaving the market technically in a bear market.

Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3, said the market “smells blood” after Bitcoin decisively broke out of a six-week range and moved above $72,000. Fund-flow data showed US spot Bitcoin ETFs collected $517.2 million on Aug. 19, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with $284.7 million; Ether ETFs added $189.2 million, putting combined inflows at $706 million. Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, said demand in both spot and perpetual futures turned positive for the first time since the October 2025 all-time high, though he cautioned that a month of sustained inflows would confirm the end of the bear market. The trigger was the Treasury’s surprise buyback expansion, which pushed the 30-year yield lower and weakened the dollar.

The Treasury said on Aug. 19 that the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year nominal coupons will rise from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Bitcoin touched $70,000 on Coinbase for the first time since June 2 before extending higher, as derivatives data showed more than 172,000 traders liquidated in 24 hours. Total liquidations approached $3 billion, with roughly 92% of the positions short; Bitcoin short liquidations alone reached about $1.42 billion. A broad crypto index gained about 10% during the session, while major altcoins such as XRP and Solana each rose more than 10%. The forced buying, concentrated in about an hour, helped push prices from the $64,000 area toward $70,000.

Bitcoin’s two-day advance from $64,920 carried it above $71,000 before consolidating. On-chain analysts estimated that roughly three-quarters of the 11% gain came from short covering rather than fresh accumulation, and that continued spot and ETF demand will determine whether the breakout holds. The 200-day exponential moving average near $71,711 became the central technical level: holding it could open a path toward $74,000 and $76,000, while losing it would expose a decline toward $70,000 and the short-term holder cost basis near $67,100. On-chain data showed short-term holders moved 44,300 BTC, worth about $3.19 billion, to exchanges after the price crossed $67,100, slightly above the roughly 43,000 BTC whale accumulation over the prior 60 days.

COINOTAG’s proprietary 42-indicator composite scoring engine rates the $72,726 resistance at 93/100, driven by the confluence of a high-volume node, the Fibo 0.618 retracement, and overbought RSI and stochastic readings; spot was near $72,637 at the time of writing, just below that level. The $70,868 support carries a 71/100 composite score, built on HVN, the ATR lower band, VWAP, and the Fibo 0.500 level. Derivatives positioning is mixed: perp funding is flat at -0.0006%, open interest stands at $14.36 billion, and the long/short account ratio is 1.05, indicating only modest leverage demand. The Fear & Greed Index at 62/100 (Greed) confirms broad risk appetite. A daily close above $72,726 could target $76,859, while losing $70,868 would invalidate the bullish structure.