Bitcoin Surpasses $81,000 on Spot Demand and Leverage Reset

Bitcoin broke the $81,000 barrier on Friday, reaching an intraday peak of $81,238 before easing to about $80,800. The move lifted the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization to roughly $1.62 trillion.

Regulatory catalyst

The rally coincided with reports that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sent draft crypto‑market rules to the White House for review. The news appeared to restore confidence after a volatile week that saw Bitcoin dip below $75,000 following the Senate’s failure to pass the CLARITY Act.

Impact on leveraged positions

Short sellers bore the brunt of the surge. Data from Coinglass show about $238 million in leveraged short positions were liquidated in 24 hours, compared with roughly $6 million in long liquidations. Across the broader market, short liquidations exceeded $470 million while long liquidations totaled just over $57 million.

Spot demand and ETF inflows

Bitget research analyst Lacie Zhang highlighted daily U.S. spot ETF inflows of approximately $154 million and short‑covering activity as factors that helped push Bitcoin above the psychologically important $80,000 level. She noted that earlier leverage flushes this month left the market more responsive to renewed spot buying.

Market outlook

The price gain represents a more than 5 % increase over the previous 24 hours. Analysts see the move as stronger than a typical sentiment bounce, citing broader risk‑on dynamics such as easing oil prices and lower long‑term Treasury yields.