Latest Bitcoin Price News: BTC Smashes $79,000 to Reach New Record

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Bitcoin (BTC) jumped above the $79,000 mark for the first time in history in an unusual weekend pump that liquidated $280 million in bearish crypto trades.

BTC rose 4%, extending 7-day gains to over 16% on the back of a week that saw Republican Donald Trump elected the U.S. president and Federal Reserve cutting rates by 25 basis points — with both events considered widely bullish among traders.

Weekend pumps are generally considered bullish in the crypto market, as trading volumes typically decrease over the weekend when many institutional investors and professional traders are less active. Lower liquidity can lead to more volatile price movements, whereas even smaller trades can cause significant price changes.

However, a significant price increase over Saturday and Sunday might suggest that retail investors are driving market activity. This is a bullish sign because it indicates broad interest and participation from smaller investors rather than just institutional players.

Profit-taking among bitcoin traders remains tiny compared to previous euphoric periods, suggesting the current rally still has plenty of room to run, a CoinDesk analysis shows.

Meanwhile, bearish crypto bets took on over $280 million in losses — an unusually high figure for the weekend — with $103 million in bitcoin shorts and $70 million in ether short bets liquidated. Shorts are bets against higher prices.

DOGE and Solana’s SOL saw over $25 million in liquidated traders, suggesting increased futures participation in tokens outside of BTC and ETH.

A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcefully closes a trader's leveraged position due to the trader's inability to meet the margin requirements. Large-scale liquidations can indicate market extremes, like panic selling or buying. A cascade of liquidations might suggest a market turning point, where a price reversal could be imminent due to an overreaction in market sentiment.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.