Strategy Rallies 9%, Bitmine Climbs 7%, Coinbase Jumps 6% as $3.3B Short Squeeze Powers Bitcoin Past $71K

Tech stocks are generally in the red this morning, but cryptocurrency stocks are deep in the green. The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 0.7% to $710.90 in early Thursday trading, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.5% to $765.32. Crypto-linked equities are running the opposite direction, and hard.

Yet, Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR | MSTR Price Prediction) stock is up 9% to $113.20. Moreover, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) stock is climbing 7% to $21.72.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) stock is up 6% to $169.22, a smaller move than its two peers that carries meaning later in this story. So, why are crypto stocks outperforming the major market indexes?

A $3.3 Billion Short Squeeze Powers the Move

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) is up 10% over the past 24 hours to $71,486, and Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) is up 18% to $2,281. Roughly $3.3 billion of leveraged crypto bets were liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass, with short positions accounting for $3 billion of that total.

Ethereum liquidations totaled $1.73 billion and Bitcoin liquidations totaled $1.15 billion, making this the largest liquidation event of 2026 and the third-largest of the past year. Bitcoin reached its highest level since May 31 and posted its biggest single-day gain since March, extending a rally that began Wednesday.