The Ministry of Finance is responsible for ignition, the ETF is responsible for supporting the bottom, active buying is responsible for breakthroughs, and short squeezes are responsible for acceleration, while behind them is the tangible hand of Trump, the stock god of the White House.

Written by: Biteye

1. August 17-19 | Funding Base Before Increase

BTC spot ETF saw a net inflow of about $651 million over three consecutive trading days, and ETH ETF about $120 million.

This phase was basically horizontal, but there was continuous support in the spot market.

2. August 18 | SEC Policy Preheating

The SEC proposed the "Regulation Crypto Assets":

👉 Startups can raise a maximum of $5 million within four years;

👉 Another channel can raise a maximum of $75 million every 12 months;

👉 A conditional safe harbor will also be provided.

However, BTC was still mainly fluctuating around $64,000-$65,000 at that time and did not break through immediately.

So the SEC proposal was more like a "background benefit" that reduced the regulatory risk premium, rather than a direct trigger point.

3. August 19, 20:30-20:50 (Beijing time) | Real Ignition Moment

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it would raise the single buyback limit for 10-30 year government bonds from $2 billion to at least $4 billion.

After the announcement⬇️

👉 The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell by about 5.7 basis points;

👉 The 30-year yield fell by about 9 basis points;

BTC rose from about $64,494 to $64,943 in the 15-minute K-line at 20:30; ETH rose from about $1,923 to $1,933.

The market first traded on: longer-term yields falling, easing the valuation pressure on risk assets.

4. 22:00-23:00 | Leverage Funds Gradually Entering the Market

BTC rose from about $65,012 to $65,923, up about 1.4%.

At the same time, Binance BTC OI (Open Interest) increased from about 106,700 BTC to 110,200 BTC, growing by about 3.3%.

This indicates that at the beginning of the market, it was not only short covering but also new leveraged funds actively betting on breakthroughs.

5. 🔥 23:00 - the next day 00:00 | The Main Surge and Short Squeeze Started

This was the most critical hour of the whole night:

• BTC: $65,923 → $68,554, +3.99%📈
• ETH: $1,971 → $2,086, +5.85%📈
• BTC active buy/sell ratio: about 1.42⬆️
• ETH active buy/sell ratio: about 1.23⬆️

But during this hour, BTC OI began to decline slightly, and ETH OI decreased by about 1.8%.

This means that the market structure shifted from "new funds opening positions to push prices up" to "active buying + short covering."

6. 03:02-04:13 | White House Crypto Meeting Held

At the start of the meeting, BTC was already around $68,400, and the first phase of the main surge was basically completed.

Trump then:

👉 Pushed for Congress to pass a fair version of the CLARITY Act;

👉 Named Hyperliquid and its compliance to enter the U.S. market;

👉 Emphasized that the U.S. must maintain its lead in Bitcoin, crypto, prediction markets, and AI;

👉 Attended together with leaders from Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini, as well as SEC and CFTC officials.

During the meeting, BTC roughly rose from $68,400 to $68,700, and the increase was not dramatic.

Thus, from a timing perspective, the White House crypto meeting was not the initial ignition component, but more of a reaffirmation by the Trump administration of favorable policies for crypto.

7. 04:15-06:00 | The Second Surge Became a Typical Short Squeeze

After the meeting ended, BTC further surged from about $68,700 to $69,700.

At the same time, Binance BTC OI dropped from about 110,000 to 107,100, a decrease of about 2.6%.

Price rising, OI decreasing—this is a more typical structure of short covering and forced liquidation.

8. 10:00 | Cleaning the Battlefield: Liquidation Results Surface

As of about 10:00 on August 20 (Beijing time):

• BTC about $69,700, up about 8.25% from 6:00 the previous evening;
• ETH about $2,270, up about 18.25% during the same period;

CoinGlass rolling statistics show about 174,000 traders were liquidated;

💰 Total liquidation amount was about $2.98 billion;

🐻 The scale of short liquidations was about 11 times that of longs.

This has become the second largest short liquidation event in history and the eighth largest crypto liquidation event. 🤯

⭐ In summary:

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for ignition, the ETF is responsible for supporting the bottom, active buying is responsible for breakthroughs, short squeezes are responsible for acceleration, and behind them is the tangible hand of Trump, the stock god of the White House!