XRP just had the kind of week that makes traders forget about all those months of sideways price action. The token posted its best weekly gain since the post-2024 US presidential election rally, climbing from around $1.00 to above $1.10 as Bitcoin ripped higher on the back of a historic short squeeze.
The squeeze heard round the crypto world
On August 19, Bitcoin surged roughly 5% to 8% in a single session, hitting intraday highs between $69,500 and $71,750. That marked its largest daily gain since March.
More than $1 billion in Bitcoin short positions were liquidated within roughly one hour. Across the broader crypto market, total short liquidations reached $2.7 billion.
For weeks prior, Bitcoin had been grinding sideways in a range near $63,000 to $65,000. That kind of prolonged consolidation tends to breed complacency among short sellers, who stack positions expecting the range to break lower. When it broke higher instead, the forced buying from liquidations created a feedback loop that accelerated the rally.
