Bitcoin Surge Past $70K Triggers $1B Short Squeeze, Lifts Coinbase and MSTR
In brief
- Bitcoin rally toward $70,000 liquidated over $1 billion in bearish positions in one hour
- MSTR climbed 11.95% to $103.58 as Bitcoin treasury gains accelerated
- Coinbase (COIN) jumped 9.05% to $159.47 on elevated crypto trading volume
- BitMine (BMNR) added 9.68% to $20.05 backed by Ethereum holdings strength
- All three stocks remain negative year-to-date despite Wednesday's sharp gains
Treasury Plays Lead the Rally
Strategy holds Bitcoin directly as its corporate treasury, making it a leveraged play on the asset's price action. The firm held 840,447 BTC and $4.8 billion in cash as of its most recent weekly filing—enough to make Wednesday's move a material tailwind. Strategy reached an intraday high of $106.90, up 13.07% from its open.
BitMine stockpiles and stakes Ethereum, and the Ethereum treasury play benefited similarly. The firm holds 5.82 million ETH tokens, worth roughly $11.4 billion and equal to 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply. Both strategies amplify crypto price moves into equity returns—and on Wednesday, the math worked in their favor.
Fee-Earners Follow Suit
Coinbase earns fees off crypto trading volume, and the surge in Bitcoin activity pushed the exchange higher. Coinbase reached an intraday high of $165.74, up 12.37% from its open. Notably, Coinbase is currently the fifth most shorted stock in the financial sector—meaning Wednesday's spike forced equity bears to cover positions alongside the liquidation cascade in crypto derivatives.
Circle issues the USDC stablecoin and collects yield on the reserves backing it. Circle (CRCL) rose 9.44% to $78.50 on the same tailwind, though its move was slightly more muted than the treasury and exchange plays.
Macro Backdrop and the Year-to-Date Drag
The total crypto market grew more than 5% during Wednesday's trading session, and the U.S. Treasury announced it would at least double the size of its long-bond buyback program starting in September, adding tailwind to risk assets broadly. A White House meeting was scheduled where President Trump is expected to sit down with SEC and CFTC leadership and crypto executives to discuss market-structure rules, signaling regulatory momentum that traders interpreted as bullish.
Yet Strategy, Coinbase, and BitMine remain deeply negative for the year despite Wednesday's spike. One day doesn't erase a year of underperformance. The real test comes if Bitcoin can hold the $70,284 resistance zone flagged on Wednesday's chart—and whether these equity plays can sustain their gains on a longer timeframe.
