Standard Chartered Shock Has Bitcoin Retail Suddenly Eyeing $126,000

"This wasn't an organic rally. It was a classic short squeeze," the trader MARMOT posted to 114,000 views on Friday, as bitcoin closed a run that carried it from $62,900 on August 16 to $79,500 five days later, a 26% move that left the price near $77,000 on Saturday. "$3.1 BILLION in shorts wiped out," the post read. "One of the biggest short liquidations I've seen."

"And right now, retail is FOMO-ing in hard, convinced the bottom is in," MARMOT posted to 82,000 followers, adding that "there are more than $12 BILLION in longs sitting right below us" and that "Market makers could be hunting these longs next." Those figures are MARMOT's own count, not an exchange disclosure.

'Retail Actually Has More Influence Over The Markets'

"I don't support zero DTE options. But with the rise of zero DTE options, retail actually has more influence over the markets than you would think," said Charan Dangeti, a content creator working with paper trading app GameStock, in an interview about the options market retail now reaches.

"we've always complained that, oh, you know, institutions control the markets. We can't do anything at end of the day," said Dangeti, who posts market analysis to more than 226,000 followers and runs a free Discord of over 33,000 people. He added: "I just don't think that's true anymore."