Bitcoin traded as high as $86,332 on Monday, its highest level in eight months and a price the market hasn’t seen since January.

With Bitcoin pumping and bullish vibes returning to the crypto market, the question on most investors’ minds now, of course, is what happens next?

First, a bit of context: Today’s forming candlestick opened at $81,152 and closed for a gain of 4.98%, nearly the same performance BTC registered last week. The move extended a bounce that began near $62,000 on August 17 and carried Bitcoin back above $80,000 in one month.

Bitcoin remains a bit over 30% below its October 2025 record above $126,000, and its year-to-date loss has narrowed to under 3%. That leaves plenty of ground between here and the highs, even after an aggressive short squeeze last week.

CoinGlass logged $877.31 million in liquidations across crypto markets over the trailing 24 hours, and $740.79 million of that—about 84%—came from short positions wiped out as the price of Bitcoin climbed. More than 126,000 accounts were liquidated in the period, and the single largest order was an $11.29 million BTC/USDT position on Binance, per CoinGlass data.

Bitcoin accounted for $491.48 million of the total tally, while Ethereum added $195.11 million. It’s a familiar pattern for this rally: short sellers keep leaning against the trend, and every push higher forces them out, adding fuel to the move rather than capping it.

The macro tailwind

Falling oil prices did some of the heavy lifting. Brent crude has dropped for four straight sessions on hopes that Washington and Tehran can ease tensions around this week’s United Nations General Assembly, taking pressure off inflation-sensitive assets broadly.

Falling oil prices did some of the heavy lifting. Brent crude has dropped for four straight sessions on hopes that Washington and Tehran can ease tensions around this week’s United Nations General Assembly, taking pressure off inflation-sensitive assets broadly.

Traders are also positioning ahead of a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on September 24, and the 10-year Treasury yield has slipped back near 4.9% after touching its highest level since October 2023 earlier this month. Falling yields typically ease the opportunity cost of holding a non-yielding asset like Bitcoin, making it more attractive relative to bonds

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan told CNBC the “crypto winter” is over and that markets could be entering the “strongest and longest-running bull market in crypto’s history.”

Not everyone agrees that framing has held up before—Bitcoin last traded above $85,000 in January’s slide toward $77,000, and Standard Chartered called an earlier bottom “crypto spring” back in June, only for the market to slump again.

The next three weeks

The Relative Strength Index, which measures how hot markets are at a specific moment, shows that Bitcoin is currently overbought (traders are willing to pay more for Bitcoin than the natural price). This overbought reading and the big volatility of the markets right now makes the readings point the same way: Bitcoin has moved a long way, fast, and is due at minimum a pause or a retest of the $79,071-to-$80,355 support zone before the next leg.

A weekly close back below that zone would undercut the bullish structure; holding above it keeps the path toward new highs intact.

That said, Bitcoin is running so hot, caution may be advised. After a long and sustained crypto winter, these moves may feel more natural than they would under other circumstances. Those betting on the coin mooning have reasons to keep their positions. Bitcoin is currently testing a resistance zone. Breaking it means prices could potentially go all the way up $95K before testing another major volume zone, for an additional 15% gain.

At the moment, prediction market traders are riding the wave of optimism. On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders are currently pricing in 50% odds that Bitcoin hits $90k before the end of the month, and 28% odds it touches $92,500.

Bitcoin’s next moves hinge on a data calendar it doesn’t control. Trump and Xi are due to meet in New York on September 24, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge lands September 30, the September jobs report follows October 2, and consumer price data arrives October 14.