Bitcoin tops $75,000 on track for a 20% weekly gain
Bitcoin rose above $75,000 early Friday and is on track for a roughly 20% weekly gain, as Treasury bond-market intervention and a White House push for the Clarity Act revived risk appetite. In stock market news today, crypto-linked shares and bitcoin ETFs joined the rebound after a sharp short squeeze.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin traded near $75,343 early Friday, up from about $62,837 at the week's open, putting a roughly 20% weekly gain in sight.
- The cryptocurrency cleared $75,000 for the first time since May, with Ether and other major tokens also advancing.
- Catalysts included a Treasury expansion of long-dated bond buybacks and a last-ditch push to pass the Clarity Act.
- A wave of short liquidations amplified the rally, though some investors still expect further volatility.
Why is bitcoin surging in stock market news today?
According to CNBC, bitcoin was last seen at $75,343.01 early Friday, compared with $62,836.88 at the start of the week. Forbes reported a similar print near $75,268 and said the level had not been breached since May.
The rally began Wednesday after Treasury yields pulled back sharply when the Treasury intervened in the bond market. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the department would double its buybacks of long-dated government debt, easing pressure on risk assets and helping spark a broader move into crypto.
Investor optimism deepened on Thursday after President Donald Trump hosted crypto executives at the White House and urged Congress to pass the industry-backed Clarity Act, which aims to set clearer legal guidelines for digital assets. CNBC noted the bill is widely seen as a potential catalyst to end the crypto winter that began last fall, though passage odds still look relatively slim.
How far did crypto stocks and other tokens move?
Crypto-linked equities followed bitcoin higher on Thursday. Coinbase and Circle closed up 7.5% and 6.45%, respectively, while Strategy rose 7.8%. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF was up 5.5% in premarket trading Friday, CNBC reported.
Beyond bitcoin, Forbes said Ether rose to $2,363 early Friday, up more than 25% from the previous week. In the prior 24 hours, Solana's SOL, Binance's BNB, XRP, and DOGE were up about 7%, 6.4%, 19.3%, and 11.3%, respectively.
For more on digital-asset market moves, see BlasterPost's Fintech & Crypto Alerts hub.
Was this rally driven by a short squeeze?
Yes—forced covering magnified the upside. CNBC, citing CoinGlass, said roughly $2.7 billion in crypto short positions were liquidated. Forbes separately reported more than $1.25 billion of short liquidations in the past 24 hours, including around $750 million of bets against bitcoin.
Even after the surge, bitcoin remains well below its 2026 high of $94,820 from mid-January and its all-time high of $126,198 hit on October 6 last year, according to CNBC.
Lucy Gazmararian of Token Bay Capital told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe that crypto may be nearing the end of its bear market but that she still expects "one final flush" of about another 20% before longer-term buyers lean in. She framed bitcoin as a longer-term play against monetary debasement while stressing near-term cycle volatility.
Max Stuedlein of Sygnum APAC said the Treasury's larger long-dated buybacks are meant to address rising borrowing-cost concerns tied to U.S. debt levels—an alignment of macro and policy catalysts that, for now, has pulled optimism back into the market.