Bitcoin hits $86,000 as massive short squeeze clears key resistance wall

Bitcoin punched through $86,000, clearing a resistance zone that had been acting as a ceiling for months. The move represents the highest price level in eight months and was driven largely by a cascade of forced liquidations that turned bearish bets into rocket fuel. More than $648 million in short positions were wiped out within a single 24-hour window. When that many traders betting against an asset get margin-called simultaneously, their brokers buy Bitcoin to close those positions, which pushes the price higher, which liquidates more shorts. The resistance zone that finally broke Analytics firm Glassnode had previously identified the $82,000 to $86,000 range as a critical short-liquidation wall. A substantial concentration of short positions had piled up in that band, making it a kind of gravitational field that kept pulling prices back down on prior attempts to break through. According to Glassnode, long-term holders accumulated roughly 1.07 million BTC with cost bases in the $83,000 to $86,000 area. That means a massive cohort of patient investors just moved back into profit, which historically reduces sell pressure since holders in the green tend to sit tight rather than dum...