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Bitcoin’s Rally Has a Second Engine: $2.2 Billion in Weekly Fund Inflows

By Isaac • August 22, 2026 3:20 pm • Comments

Bitcoin’s violent rebound started with a squeeze. It may now have something more durable behind it.

Digital-asset investment products pulled in $2.2 billion this week, according to CoinShares. Bitcoin products accounted for roughly $1.6 billion of that total, enough to push their year-to-date flows back into positive territory after a long weak stretch.

That matters because forced buying can launch a rally, but it cannot sustain one by itself. The first leg higher was unmistakably mechanical: traders crowded into bearish positions, Bitcoin broke through a major liquidation zone, and exchanges began closing shorts at market.

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Each forced purchase pushed the price higher and triggered the next one.

Daan Crypto Trades captured the turning point on August 19: Bitcoin’s break through $67,000 produced a four-percent one-minute candle as a dense liquidation cluster gave way. That was the match.

The question for holders now is whether real demand keeps burning after the forced buyers are gone.

The market structure is stronger than a squeeze alone.

Current evidence says the move is not running solely on new leverage. Bitcoin.com News, citing Bitfinex analysts, reported that Bitcoin gained roughly 10 to 11 percent while open interest rose only about four percent, a divergence that separates this advance from rallies fueled mainly by rapidly expanding futures exposure.

When price outruns open interest by that much, spot purchases and short covering—not a fresh pile of borrowed bets—are doing more of the work.

The same report put August 20 spot Bitcoin ETF inflows at $606.29 million, the strongest daily result since May 1 and the fourth straight session of positive flows. BlackRock’s IBIT captured 82 percent of that total.

Ether products added another $220.77 million, showing that institutional demand was not confined to one ticker.

The sequence is important. Bitcoin.com reported that roughly $1.48 billion in crypto positions were liquidated inside one hour on August 19, while spot Bitcoin ETFs still added $297.6 million that session.

By August 21, Bitcoin had reached a multi-month high near $79,491. Buyers paying cash were continuing the move after the first forced-liquidation burst had already passed.

Bitfinex also pointed to the Coinbase Premium as a useful confirmation signal after a record stretch of negative readings from May into late July. A sustained return to positive territory would indicate that U.S. buyers are again paying more than offshore traders instead of merely chasing leveraged momentum.

Bitcoin then climbed through $75,451, turning a liquidation event into a multi-day market move.

The macro backdrop supplied another tailwind. The U.S. Treasury increased the maximum size of its long-end liquidity-support buybacks, with larger operations beginning in September.

Markets read that change as relief for the stressed long end of the bond market. Lower long-term yields make non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin relatively more attractive and can loosen financial conditions across risk assets.

CoinShares is not calling for an unchecked breakout. Its research says whales have stopped selling and begun accumulating again, while also warning that the scale is not yet large enough to guarantee a sustained move.

The firm sees $80,000 as an important upper boundary and says clearer confirmation from policymakers may be needed before Bitcoin can break decisively beyond it.

What would prove the rally is real?

The next test is simple: demand has to remain after the fireworks fade.

Continued ETF inflows would show that cash buyers are willing to absorb coins near the new range. Bitcoin also needs to stay above the $68,000 to $69,000 area, where Bitfinex says buyers from the past five months share a major cost basis.

Holding that zone keeps a large group of recent buyers in profit and reduces the pressure to sell every bounce.

The risk is just as clear. A fast rally puts more coins into profit, and some holders will use strength to exit.

Bitfinex warned that profitable coins moving toward exchanges could produce the largest profit-taking wave of the year. Long-term Treasury yields or real yields turning sharply higher would also tighten the same liquidity conditions that helped Bitcoin escape its summer range.

The squeeze was real, dramatic, and necessary. But the $2.2 billion weekly fund-flow number changes the conversation.

Bitcoin is no longer rising only because bears were forced to buy. For now, investors with actual cash are showing up too.

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