Bitcoin hits $85,000 as $648M short squeeze ignites a broad altcoin rally

The day's story is a short squeeze — one of the largest in recent memory. Over $648 million in bearish bets on Bitcoin were forcibly closed as the price climbed, with $300 million of those liquidations happening in a single hour. When traders who have bet against an asset are forced to buy it back to cover their losses, that buying pressure accelerates the very move they were betting against. That feedback loop drove Bitcoin from the mid-$70,000s to $85,000, its highest level since January. The backdrop made the squeeze hit harder. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates — a move that typically pressures risk assets — but markets had already priced in the hike, and the absence of any hawkish surprise flipped sentiment quickly. Bitcoin's 44% gain over the third quarter gave traders a narrative to lean into: the bull run thesis looked intact. Altcoins amplified the move, as they typically do when a short squeeze flushes out leveraged bearish positions and frees up capital. High-beta layer-1 tokens — assets that tend to move more sharply than Bitcoin in either direction — captured the most upside. Sui gained 24.55%, Dogecoin rose 10.09%, Monero climbed 9.00%, and XRP added 8.20%. Solana gained 7.69%. Even the more established large-caps — Ethereum up 5.82%, BNB up 5.06% — posted strong sessions. Michael Saylor's Strategy added to the momentum by announcing a $76 million Bitcoin purchase, bringing its total holdings to 846,000 BTC. That kind of institutional accumulation signal, arriving on a day when price was already breaking out, reinforced the bullish tone. The Fear & Greed index sits at 70, in Greed territory — elevated, but not yet at the extreme readings that have historically preceded sharp reversals.

• –Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) purchased 950 BTC for $76 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 846,000 BTC — the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury in existence.
• –The European Central Bank launched its Pontes platform, which allows tokenized assets to settle in central-bank money without relying on stablecoins — a significant step toward institutional blockchain infrastructure in Europe.
• –Hyperliquid listed perpetual futures tied to a Bitcoin implied volatility index (a measure of how much price swings are expected), expanding its derivatives offerings on a day when volatility was already running high.