Charles Schwab says Bitcoin's August short squeeze has ended after a record liquidation cascade reset market leverage. On August 19, $1.37 billion in Bitcoin short positions were liquidated, while combined liquidations over August 19 and 20 exceeded $2 billion. Bitcoin rose from about $65,000 to nearly $80,000, a roughly 23% weekly gain, after previously falling 45% to 53% from its near-$126,000 all-time high reached in October 2025. Schwab's August 21 Weekly Trader's Stock Market Outlook said the move was driven by forced buying rather than a fundamental shift in investor conviction. Perpetual futures open interest fell to its lowest level since May 2026 and funding rates returned to neutral, pointing to a digestion phase. Schwab also recently launched spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for retail clients and plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to its Schwab Crypto platform.