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Points of Focus
- Bitcoin trades near $78,800 after losing $80,000, with the 50-week EMA at $77,251 as key support.
- BTC long liquidations hit $109 million as futures open interest fell 5.1% to $55.56 billion on Aug. 26.
- A $6.4-billion Deribit options expiry on Aug. 28 concentrates positioning around $75,000 and $80,000.
Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $78,800 on Thursday, leaving BTC well below Tuesday’s $81,200 rejection. July US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rose 3.7% year-on-year, above the 3.6% forecast, adding a macro headwind as Bitcoin struggled to reclaim $80,000.
Bitcoin price stalls below $80,000 as leverage resets
BTC reached $81,240 on Aug. 25 before sellers pushed the price back into the upper-$70,000 range. CoinGlass data showed about $109 million in BTC long liquidations during the pullback. Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) also fell 5.1% to $55.56 billion by Aug. 26, showing leverage contracted as price retreated.
The drop in OI reduces the amount of leverage available for another cascade, but liquidation levels remain close to the spot price. CoinGlass heatmap data placed liquidity around $79,800-$80,000, with more positions near $80,500-$81,000. Below the spot price, another cluster sits around $77,500-$78,000.
Crypto analyst Rekt Capital said on X on Aug. 26 that Bitcoin was “rejecting from the Macro Downtrend.” He also identified the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) near $77,251 as a key level. A break below $78,000 would leave BTC less than 1% above that EMA, putting the lower liquidity cluster back in focus.
Bitcoin is rejecting from the Macro Downtrend
A Monthly Close below the blue resistance would not just solidify another Macro Lower High but would also build a confluent resistance in association with the Macro Downtrend$BTC #Bitcoin https://t.co/qBMC4CNknc pic.twitter.com/bws93zlkT9
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) August 26, 2026
Bitcoin liquidation risk meets $6.4-billion options expiry
About 81,700 BTC options worth $6.44 billion expire on Deribit on Aug. 28. Calls outnumber puts 44,639 to 37,061, while the $80,000 strike carries about $157 million in call open interest. The $80,000 strike therefore overlaps with the same resistance area BTC has failed to reclaim this week.
Spot demand complicates the bearish case. Farside Investors recorded $31.4 million of net US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows on Aug. 26, following $314.3 million on Aug. 25.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted the broader flow trend on X, calling the combined $7 billion attracted by gold and Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over five trading days “by far a record for a 5-day period.”
DEBASER: Gold and Bitcoin ETFs have combined for +$7b in flows in past week, by far a record for a 5-day period as debasement trade steals spotlight from AI. GLD, IBIT leading, in Top 10 for week. Also notable $IBIT YTD flows are now positive, completely dug out of sizable hole. pic.twitter.com/q3LmPxnzfi
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) August 26, 2026
CryptoQuant data also points to stronger underlying demand alongside short-term profit-taking. Its Bull Score jumped from 30 to 80, traders’ unrealized profit margin reached 20.5%, and short-term holders realized $1.2 billion in profits from Aug. 20 through Aug. 22.
CryptoQuant still requires a weekly close above its 365-day moving average to confirm the broader bull-market shift, with that threshold now near $83,000.
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