Bitcoin Jumps 22% in a Week, Its Biggest Gain Since 2024
The price closed Friday near $76,900 after briefly topping $79,000, recovering from about $62,800 at the start of the week as a Treasury buyback announcement and a legislative push lit a short squeeze.
Bitcoin rose about 6% on Friday to close near $76,943, capping a week in which it gained roughly 22% — its largest weekly advance since March 2024 — and reaching its highest level since May.
The cryptocurrency started the week around $62,800, close to the range it had held all summer, and briefly traded above $79,000 on Friday.
Three things happened at once
The Treasury moved. On Thursday the department said it would at least double the size of its buybacks of long-dated government debt, from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, running from September through November. Buybacks inject cash into the financial system and push down long-term yields, and lower yields make risk assets more attractive.
Washington signaled on the rulebook. The White House and industry leaders launched a late push to move the digital asset market structure bill through the Senate in the coming weeks, after it had spent months stalled without a floor date.
Positioning did the rest. Months of decline had left the market heavily short. When the price broke above the summer range, forced buying from liquidated short positions accelerated the move — which is why a 22% weekly gain can occur without a single change in the long-term outlook.
What it does not resolve
Even after this week, bitcoin sits roughly 39% below the record above $126,000 it set last October, and U.S. spot exchange-traded funds recorded roughly $5.4 billion of net outflows in the first half of the year.
The corporate holders that financed purchases with preferred stock and convertible debt still face obligations that do not care about a good week, and the largest of them holds a position acquired at an average cost above $75,000 — a level the price has only just reclaimed.
The tell to watch
If this rally is genuine rather than mechanical, it should show up next in fund flows. A short squeeze moves price. Sustained ETF creations would mean the allocators who spent the year selling have started buying back — and that is the only source of demand large enough to hold a level like this.
