BTC gains 15% in 3 hours amid tight squeeze

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has surged more than 10% over just a few hours earlier today, with prices quickly surging from roughly $35,000 to tag just shy of $40,000 on Monday.

Price action shows a violent short squeeze that occurred as prices broke above $35,000, with bullish momentum suddenly accelerating as prices quickly rallied 15% from roughly $34,000 to $39,800 over the course of less than three hours.

And folks, we have our squeeze. https://t.co/Lflcp7MZuw

— Willy Woo (@woonomic) July 26, 2021

By contrast, BTC had taken the past five days to gain from roughly $30,000 to $34,000. As of this writing, Bitcoin is changing hands for roughly $38,500.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is the top gainer for the past 24 hours among the top 30 crypto assets by capitalization, posting a gain of nearly 13%.

The sudden rally has seen numerous technical indicators return to offering bullish signals, with popular analyst Lark Davis informing his 426,000 followers that BTC’s price is again trending above its 50-day moving average.

Oooohhhh..... #bitcoin just reclaimed the 50 day moving average! Nice! pic.twitter.com/xpS3kiUV16

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) July 26, 2021

Polkadot’s DOT and Chainlink’s LINK are also among the day’s top gainers, each having increased by more than 11% in the past 24 hours.

With Dogecoin (DOGE) up less than 9% for the day, it would appear the impact of Elon Musk’s Twitter account on the meme coin’s markets is beginning to wane, with Tesla’s CEO posting a meme asserting that “Dogecoin is money” on Sunday.

Despite Musk’s efforts, Dogecoin appears to have moved in lock-step with the broader altcoin markets, with most large-cap crypto assets having posted high single-digit gains for the day.

#bitcoin is money

— Jay_OKEX_CEO (@JayHao8) July 25, 2021

Related: Bitcoin price hints at 'megaphone' bottom pattern, and a breakout toward $40K

Despite next month’s fast-approaching London upgrades for Ethereum, Ether (ETH) is also lagging behind the pack, posting a gain of roughly 7% for the past 24 hours. 

As such, ETH is the weakest-performing cryptocurrency ranked among the top 10 by capitalization for the past day.

Elon Musk, $40K and no demand: 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week   June 14, 2021
Elon Musk: US 'past peak inflation' after Tesla sells 90% of Bitcoin   Aug. 7, 2022
Elon Musk, Cathie Wood sound 'deflation' alarm — is Bitcoin at risk of falling below $14K?   Sept. 12, 2022
Twitter quietly adds BTC and ETH price indexes to search function   Dec. 22, 2022
Elon Musk's Tesla held onto its Bitcoin in Q4 despite market turbulence   Jan. 26, 2023