Bitcoin Nears $72K as $3B Short Squeeze Reports Diverge on Key Numbers

4 min readPublished 20 Aug 2026

Bitcoin pushed toward $72,000 this week as leveraged short bets unwound to the tune of more than $3.1 billion, according to CoinGlass data. Two newsrooms covered the move in full — Cointelegraph and CryptoSlate — and their numbers for that same underlying data set don’t line up.

Both outlets agree on the broad shape of the story: a US Treasury liquidity intervention lit a rally that forced short sellers to cover, and Bitcoin’s short-term holders used the move to take profit on positions that had been underwater. Where they part ways is on the specifics — liquidation totals, the timeframe those totals cover, and the exact size of the on-chain profit-taking.

What happened

Cointelegraph reported that crypto short liquidations for Aug. 19-20 topped $3.1 billion, citing CoinGlass data, with Thursday standing as the largest single-day wipeout of shorts the platform has recorded. Bitcoin, per Cointelegraph, accounted for just over half of that total at $1.65 billion. Cointelegraph noted the two-day short liquidation figure was still smaller than the roughly $20 billion long liquidation cascade that followed Bitcoin’s reversal from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,200. Separately, the outlet cited CoinMarketCap data ranking Thursday’s combined long-and-short liquidations, at $3.25 billion, in seventh place historically.

CryptoSlate, reporting the same underlying CoinGlass feed, described more than $3.1 billion of bearish crypto positions liquidated over 24 hours, compared with about $277 million of longs. In CryptoSlate’s breakdown, Bitcoin accounted for roughly $1.8 billion of short liquidations and Ethereum traders lost nearly $1.2 billion; the outlet also noted the single largest liquidation was a $48.8 million BTC position on Hyperliquid.

On price, Cointelegraph put Bitcoin’s local high at $71,992 on Bitstamp, per TradingView data, as the pair approached $72,000. CryptoSlate’s own price tracker showed Bitcoin reaching $72,207, with the outlet noting the token had climbed roughly 15% since Monday.

Where the two newsrooms agree

Both outlets tie the rally to the same catalyst: a US Treasury liquidity intervention that Cointelegraph said pushed Bitcoin to its highest levels since the start of June. Both cite CryptoQuant data showing Bitcoin short-term holders — wallets holding a UTXO for less than 155 days — sending Bitcoin to exchanges in their largest profit-taking move of 2026. Both report the STH spent output profit ratio, or SOPR, stood at 1.01 as of Thursday, its highest level since April, indicating most coins moving from that cohort changed hands above their prior transaction price.

Where the numbers diverge

The discrepancies sit in the detail rather than the headline. Cointelegraph reported short-term holders sent 43,300 BTC to exchanges against an aggregate cost basis, or STH realized price, of $68,700. CryptoSlate reported more than 44,300 BTC moved, against a short-term holder average cost basis of roughly $67,100 — both outlets citing CryptoQuant for numbers that don’t reconcile.

The liquidation totals carry a similar mismatch. Both outlets cite a CoinGlass figure north of $3.1 billion, but Cointelegraph frames it as a cumulative two-day total spanning Aug. 19 and 20, while CryptoSlate frames the same order-of-magnitude figure as a single 24-hour reading. The composition differs too: Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin-specific short liquidation figure is $1.65 billion against CryptoSlate’s $1.8 billion, and only CryptoSlate breaks out an Ethereum-specific short liquidation figure of nearly $1.2 billion alongside a $277 million long-liquidation figure. Neither outlet reconciles the difference in its own text.

Neither the timeframe question nor the cost-basis question is resolved by anything in either report. Both are attributed to primary data providers — CoinGlass for liquidations, CryptoQuant for on-chain flows — but the two newsrooms present different numbers from what appear to be the same feeds.

The policy and market backdrop

CryptoSlate alone reported the mechanics behind the Treasury move: the department announced on Aug. 19 plans to nearly double the size of its liquidity-support bond buybacks, raising the cap for 10- to 30-year securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, effective Sept. 9, after the 30-year yield hit 5.34%, its highest since 2007. CryptoSlate also cited Glassnode data describing the daily move as a 5.8-standard-deviation gain relative to Bitcoin’s 30-day volatility, the largest upside shock since October 2023.

CryptoSlate reported that President Donald Trump, speaking alongside Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, urged lawmakers to pass what he called a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, legislation intended to clarify how digital assets are classified under securities or commodities rules. The bill stalled before the Senate’s August recess; CryptoSlate reported a procedural vote is scheduled for Sept. 15, requiring 60 votes to advance. Armstrong wrote on X, according to CryptoSlate, that

“This Administration is committed to passing the Clarity Act — answering voters’ call for consistent rules for crypto.”

CryptoSlate also reported Trump, asked whether the administration might acquire more government-held Bitcoin, said

“Well, it’s been talked about,”

adding he would rely on recommendations from SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, without announcing new purchases.

CryptoSlate reported that the Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to a level not seen since October 2025 — the month Bitcoin last hit a cycle peak, per the outlet.

What remains unresolved

Readers should treat several figures as unsettled rather than confirmed. The liquidation measurement window — two days versus 24 hours — changes how the same $3.1 billion-plus headline number should be read. The gap between a $68,700 and a roughly $67,100 short-term holder cost basis matters directly for anyone assessing how much further Bitcoin can fall before this cohort is back underwater on its recent purchases. And the difference between the two outlets’ reported profit-taking transfer figures — 43,300 BTC versus more than 44,300 BTC — reflects that even data credited to the same on-chain analytics provider is not always reported identically across newsrooms.

What to watch next

Traders will be watching whether CoinGlass or CryptoQuant publish a dated reconciliation of the Aug. 19-20 liquidation window that clears up the 24-hour-versus-two-day discrepancy. On the policy side, CryptoSlate’s reporting points to two concrete dates: the Treasury’s expanded buyback operations begin Sept. 9, and the Senate’s CLARITY Act procedural vote is scheduled for Sept. 15. Both outlets’ shared CryptoQuant data will also be worth monitoring for whether short-term holders continue distributing Bitcoin to exchanges or whether that profit-taking wave fades.