Market Analysis

Crypto markets saw large-scale liquidations of long positions totaling $477M over the past hour. After a near +30% rally over five trading days that lifted Bitcoin to $79,500, the price reversed sharply and retreated to around $77,000. The pullback drove total crypto liquidations to $547M, with Bitcoin-linked contracts accounting for the bulk. Bitcoin had been at its most overbought level since November 2024 before the reversal.

On August 20, crypto markets jumped sharply, led by Bitcoin rising above $69,000 for the first time since June. Bitcoin gained nearly 8% in 24 hours and briefly neared $70,000. Ethereum surged 18% to above $2,250, while XRP and Solana each rose more than 10%. Total crypto market capitalization climbed 7.8% over 24 hours to $2.45 trillion, according to CoinGecko data.

U.S. spot Solana ETFs posted $1.58 million in daily net inflows on Aug. 18, bringing cumulative net inflows to $1.16 billion and total net assets to $923.57 million. The products logged $30.13 million in total value traded for the day. Analysts are also turning more bullish on SOL, with attention on whether it can break above the $100 level. Some projections cited potential targets of $295 and even $400.

JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley both raised their price targets on Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms while maintaining Overweight ratings. JPMorgan lifted its target to $22 from $20, and Morgan Stanley increased its target to $43 from $36. The moves follow Riot’s Aug. 11 announcement of a 20-year, $9 billion compute agreement with AI company Anthropic that is expected to generate $9.1 billion in revenue, rising to roughly $16.1 billion if renewed twice. The deal underscores a broader shift by Bitcoin miners toward AI infrastructure that has drawn support from Wall Street analysts.

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy raised $333.7 million last week by issuing MSTR shares but did not buy any bitcoin. About 40% of the proceeds went to repurchasing STRC preferred shares, 16% to STRC dividends, and the remainder was retained as cash. It marked the fourth straight week without a BTC purchase, and the company has reduced its holdings by 6,916 BTC since June 21, 2026. Since its last reported BTC buy, MSTR is down 16%, while STRC has traded below $95.

Between Aug. 10 and Aug. 14, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded $91.4 million in combined net outflows. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for $78.9 million of the withdrawals, while ETHA and ETHB together posted $12.5 million in net outflows. On a daily basis, IBIT saw outflows of $53.6 million on Aug. 10, $14.3 million on Aug. 12, $5.7 million on Aug. 13, and $55.5 million on Aug. 14, pointing to consecutive institutional selling.

ETH on-chain URPD data show a heavy concentration of supply in the $2,700–$2,800 range, with three bars totaling about 13 million ETH—more than 10% of circulating supply. These holdings are sitting on roughly 40% unrealized losses but have seen little movement. Using Glassnode’s account-based approach, the main entity behind the cluster may be linked to BitMine after multiple accumulation rounds brought its weighted average cost into that band. The same cost zone could later act as resistance if ETH revisits it, even as the lock-up of supply reduces potential sell pressure on declines.

Cboe has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to launch the first U.S. 3x leveraged Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The products would track the daily triple returns of BTC and ETH, offering investors leveraged crypto exposure that can amplify gains while increasing risk. If approved, the ETFs would expand the U.S. crypto-derivatives landscape and provide professional investors with additional tools for hedging and speculation.

Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded about $389.7 million in net outflows last week, while Ethereum spot ETFs saw $6.7 million in net inflows. The flow split suggests short-term demand tilted toward Ethereum over Bitcoin. Prediction-market data put the probability of Ethereum rising to $2,250 before year-end at 56%.

Securitize said average tokenized assets under management reached $4.3 billion in the second quarter, up 16% from a year earlier, while aggregate transaction volume surged 147% to $5.3 billion. Revenue fell 5% to $14.4 million and the company posted a $21.7 million net loss, according to its second-quarter results. The increase in activity was driven mainly by subscriptions and redemptions in BlackRock’s BUIDL and BUIDL-I funds, plus a $250 million subscription to the Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund. BUIDL holders can also swap into USDC through UniswapX RFQs, but only via whitelisted market makers and gated participation.