Bitcoin Retakes $80,000 as 24-Hour Short Liquidations Hit $415 Million

Bitcoin climbed back above $80,000 after recent comments from Federal Reserve officials helped revive demand for risk assets, lifting major cryptocurrencies alongside U.S. equities. At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded around $80,270, up nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum neared $2,500, while XRP and BNB also advanced. XRP led large-cap gains with an increase of about 6% on the day. The rebound extended beyond crypto. U.S. stocks moved higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 453 points and both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rising close to 1%. The shift in sentiment followed remarks from Fed Governor Christopher Waller in a prerecorded appearance at a Reuters event. He said that if incoming inflation data continues to improve, he would lean toward keeping the benchmark rate unchanged. CME FedWatch showed that after the comments, the implied probability of a rate hike at the Sept. 15–16 meeting slipped to 50.4% from 63.2% a day earlier. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell to about 4.73%. Expectations for steadier rates tend to reduce the relative pull of cash and bonds and can ease dollar-related pressure on risk assets. Traders treated the shift as supportive for both equities and cryptocurrencies. As prices jumped, liquidations accelerated. CoinGlass data showed more than $500 million in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, including roughly $416 million in shorts and $92 million in longs, impacting over 119,000 traders. Short liquidations in the last hour alone exceeded $329 million, with bitcoin-linked shorts accounting for about $86 million. The forced closing of short positions added fuel to the rally, a classic short squeeze dynamic. Attention now turns to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' August employment report, the last major data release ahead of the Fed's September meeting. A further cooling in labor-market readings could reshape expectations for the rate path. Recent history has shown that a single payrolls miss can sharply reduce hike odds, keeping macro data at the center of short-term market swings.