Key Highlights
- Bitcoin broke above $72,000, nearly reached $73,000, and was trading at $72,312, with trading activity up 94%.
- The U.S. Treasury increased bond buyback operations, raising the maximum size from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation.
- Bitcoin recorded its largest-ever profit-side UTXO movement on Binance, as recent buyers moved closer to their breakeven price.
Bitcoin (BTC) broke above $72,000 on Thursday as its latest rally picked up, coinciding with a U.S. Treasury announcement that increased the size of some bond buyback operations.
Bitcoin crossed the $72,000 level at around 2:00 PM UTC before rising toward $73,000 and then retracing slightly. At the time of writing (as of August 20 at 22:55 IST), BTC was trading at $72,312, while trading activity had increased 94% to about $61.16 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
U.S Treasury doubles bond buyback size
The rally came after the U.S. Treasury said it would increase the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated government securities. The maximum size of each operation will rise from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. The change covers securities in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors. It will start on September 9, 2026, and remain in place through November 4, 2026, the end of the current refunding quarter.
The Treasury said the move is aimed at providing more liquidity support in longer-dated markets. It said there has been strong interest from market participants in these areas, based on the volume of offers it regularly receives during buyback operations.
The Treasury also said it would release an updated tentative buyback schedule at a later date. The announcement came as Bitcoin was already moving higher, helping the wider market rally gain more attention. The move quickly spread across other major cryptocurrencies. Ethereum led the altcoin rally, rising 19% by 5:36 a.m. EST after climbing to just below $2,320. XRP, Solana, Dogecoin and Zcash also posted double-digit gains over the same 24-hour period.
Bitcoin short sellers get liquidated
The sharp move higher also led to significant liquidations among traders betting on lower prices.
According to data from Coinglass, about $698.53 million worth of Bitcoin short positions had been liquidated from the market. Short position traders were hit the most as $658.14 million worth of bets were closed from the market
In short, many traders who expected prices to fall were forced out of their positions as the market moved sharply higher.
Record Bitcoin UTXO movement
Bitcoin also recorded its largest-ever profit-side UTXO movement on Binance, according to CryptoQuant.
UTXOs, or unspent transaction outputs, represent units of Bitcoin that can be spent in future transactions. According to CryptoQuant analyst MorenoDV_, the number of UTXOs moved while in profit reached a new record. The level was even higher than the previous record seen around Bitcoin’s last market peak.
The latest movement matters because Bitcoin is now moving back toward the Short-Term Holder Realized Price. This level shows the average price paid by recent Bitcoin buyers. Many of these holders had spent weeks holding Bitcoin below their buying price.
As Bitcoin moves closer to their entry levels, some holders may now have a chance to get their money back without taking a major loss. CryptoQuant stressed that moving profitable UTXOs does not mean all those coins were sold.
The data therefore points to a potential increase in coins becoming available for sale as recent buyers approach breakeven, although it does not establish that selling will occur.
Also Read: Peter Schiff Calls Bitcoin’s Move Above $72K a “Fakeout”
