Bitcoin rose from $62,900 on Aug. 16 to $79,500 on Aug. 21, a 26% advance that lifted it to its highest level since May before it traded near $77,000 on Saturday. Other measurements showed gains of more than 23% in one week or a move from about $65,000 toward $80,000 after six weeks between $60,000 and $65,000. The rally followed the U.S. Treasury’s Aug. 19 decision to expand its longer-dated bond buyback program, raising the maximum size of a single operation from $2 billion to at least $4 billion, a move markets viewed as a liquidity boost or soft form of quantitative easing. Bitcoin broke above its 200-day moving average near $69,000 and the $70,000 resistance level after a roughly 50% correction from its approximately $126,000 peak in October 2025. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $1.92 billion in net inflows over five consecutive trading sessions, while CoinGlass recorded nearly $1.44 billion in Bitcoin short liquidations from Aug. 19 to Aug. 21. Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick said the bank’s $100,000 year-end target may be too low and that Bitcoin could test $126,000 if ETF inflows and short liquidations reinforce each other. The next major test is $80,000, with a breakout potentially supporting further gains and a rejection risking consolidation or a pullback.