What's Next for Bitcoin After Historic Rally? Experts Weigh In

In brief

• Bitcoin climbed above $72,000 Thursday after gaining nearly 15% since Monday.
• Analysts pointed to Treasury bond purchases, policy headlines, and a massive short squeeze as drivers of the rally.
• With much of the short squeeze exhausted, analysts are watching spot demand, technical levels, and Treasury yields.

Bitcoin's rally above $72,000 wiped out billions of dollars in bearish bets, but analysts say it will need fresh buyers to keep climbing.

Bitcoin reached its highest price since June on Thursday after gaining nearly 15% since Monday, with more than $3 billion in crypto short positions liquidated. That's the largest liquidation of short positions on Bitcoin since at least 2021. What's more, spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $517 million Wednesday, their largest single-day inflow since May.

Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, attributed the rally to the U.S. Treasury buying long-dated government bonds, which markets interpreted as increasing liquidity, and President Donald Trump suggesting that the U.S. government could purchase Bitcoin.

"The rally may be sustainable if spot demand growth continues after the initial impact of these macro events," Moreno told Decrypt. "Officially we are still in a bear market, so a price pull back is possible, more so after this sudden increase."