The squeeze that began late last week has not stopped. Price left the 76,000 base, held above 80,000 through the weekend, reclaimed the February open at 78,343 and took out the range high at 82,342, and London carried it above 85,900 today. That is roughly ten percent in three sessions with shallow pullbacks throughout. What sits overhead now is a confluence: the yearly open at 87,608, a level price has not traded above since February, and the Q4 2025 point of control near 88,000.
🟢 September 21, 3:31pm ET
The squeeze has not stopped. Price left the 76,000 base late last week, held above 80,000 through the weekend without giving any of it back, and London carried it from 81,600 to above 85,900 today. Ten percent in three sessions, and every pullback so far has been shallow.
Price swept the low end of the range at 75,903 last week and threatened to break down below 76,000 before buyers stepped in. The reclaim ran straight through the February open at 78,343 and then through the range high at 82,342, which is the breakout. Price is now 85,991 with the whole range beneath it.
Price has broken out of the local range and the yearly open at 87,608 is the next reference overhead, roughly 1,600 above. That is a level price has not traded above since February. Today's range already spans 80,819 to 85,973, and the 30 day rolling VWAP has climbed to 78,387.
At 86,000 price is back inside the Q4 2025 value area, which spans roughly 83,000 to 109,000. The point of control for that quarter sits near 88,000, and price is working toward it. That lands within a few hundred points of the yearly open, which makes the 87,600 to 88,000 zone the one that matters overhead.
Open interest has climbed to 24.10B, well past where it sat when price was rejected at 82,000, while CVD has been roughly flat over the same stretch. That is positioning building rather than spot lifting. Short liquidations have fuelled each leg up, and the next test is the sell side absorption stacked above 86,000.
Short positioning built through the consolidation and got pushed offside when price left the range. Regulatory headlines have been constructive, and participants are watching for signs the bear market is ending. Month to date Bitcoin is now ahead of the Nasdaq, NVDA, silver and gold, with only oil marginally in front. Whether or not the bear is over, crypto is closing the gap on tradfi.
The calendar is effectively empty this week, with the Trump and Xi summit on Wednesday the only scheduled event. That leaves price to trade on its own structure rather than on prints. The next real data cluster is the following week with Core PCE and the final GDP revision.
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Friday's briefing framed the 153M resting bid at 78,000 as a binary: it holds and it is a springboard, or it goes and the reclaim was a deviation. It held. Three sessions later price has taken the February open, the range high at 82,342, and 86,000.
The overhead picture is unusually clean. Two independent references land within a few hundred points of each other: the yearly open at 87,608, which price has not traded above since February, and the point of control of the Q4 2025 quarterly profile near 88,000. Price is inside that quarter's value area and working toward its POC.
The caution sits underneath. Open interest has climbed to 24.10B, well past where it sat into the 82,000 rejection, while CVD has been roughly flat across the same stretch. That is positioning building rather than spot lifting, and it means the move has been fuelled by shorts being squeezed rather than by sustained demand.