Behind Bitcoin’s sudden resilience is a $2 billion cash surge that wiped out speculative leverage

July's PCE inflation reading held at 3.7% headline and 3.3% core on Aug. 26, both still above the Fed's target.

Futures markets responded by pushing the odds of a September rate hike to roughly 44%, up from 36% before the report. Bitcoin hit an intraday high of $79,251.60 the same day, trading near $78,000 as of press time.

Bitget Research chief analyst Ryan Lee said in a note:

“In-line is not the same as harmless. A core print at consensus leaves the existing policy debate largely intact and settles little.”

With rate expectations offering nothing new, Lee expects Bitcoin's price to keep taking its direction from elsewhere, in ETF flows, spot liquidity and derivatives positioning.

The Bitcoin demand underneath the rally

Glassnode said US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed $2.23 billion around Bitcoin's initial squeeze, with no single outflow day and the strongest seven-day intake of 2026.

Farside Investors' daily tracker shows another $314.3 million of inflows on Aug. 25 alone, led by $284.4 million into BlackRock's IBIT, extending the run of positive days from Aug. 17 through Aug. 25 to roughly $2.6 billion.

Every wallet-size cohort was accumulating at the same time, from small holders to the largest addresses.