Bitcoin passes $80K as oil-supply fears lift bond yields
A short-squeeze near the Wall Street open drove BTC to $81,034, but traders are watching $82,000 for confirmation that the move can last.
Illustration · generated, not a photograph
Bitcoin crossed $80,000 shortly after Wall Street opened on Friday, climbing to a local high of $81,034 on Bitstamp as oil-supply disruption continued to rattle markets and push US government borrowing costs higher.
The move triggered a wave of forced short covering. CoinGlass data showed roughly $250 million in cumulative cross-crypto short liquidations over four hours, concentrated in positions parked above the spot price. TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph indicated BTC/USD was working through successive pockets of buy-side liquidity.
Underpinning the volatility is an energy squeeze. US WTI crude fell to $94.8 per barrel before rebounding during Asian trading hours to trade near $98.
IEA flags steeper cuts if Gulf flows stay constrained
In a Friday report, the International Energy Agency warned that higher prices and further demand reductions may be needed to close a widening supply gap if Gulf shipments remain limited. The agency calculated oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz at 7.6 million barrels per day in August, down 13.1 million from the daily level recorded before the US-Iran war.
The IEA released 400 million barrels from its emergency reserves in March in response to the Strait's closure. "If Gulf supplies remain constrained in the coming months and commercial inventory buffers continue to deplete rapidly, higher prices and further demand reductions may be required to close the supply-demand gap," the agency wrote in the report, noting that prices had eased after April peaks thanks to reserve releases, bypass routes, higher output from non-regional producers and softening demand.
Bond markets responded in kind. The US 30-year yield climbed 90 basis points to 5.34% on the day, continuing a pattern that has already pushed central banks in the United States and Japan to raise interest rates this week.
For Bitcoin, the macro backdrop meets a technically sensitive chart. Analyst Rekt Capital described the setup as a "moment of truth" for bulls, identifying $82,000 as the key threshold. According to his analysis, published on X, failure to break through would form a double rejection pattern echoing the price action that ended the mid-May rebound.
On-chain metrics offer some support for the bullish case. Bitcoin has reclaimed its True Market Mean, the aggregate cost basis of coins bought on secondary markets, which sits at $76,660. "That puts price back above a crucial level and back into a bullish regime," Glassnode wrote to its X followers on Friday.
One level above spot also matters: the cost basis of Bitcoin held in corporate treasuries is $80,500, reinforcing the current range as a battleground between bulls and bears.
Source reporting
The outlets whose reporting this account was written from.
Written from the reporting and primary documents credited at the foot of this story. Facts are credited to the outlet or document that established them. How Chainpress works