Bitcoin Tops $85,000 as Short Sellers Lose $635 Million in a Day

The scale of the short-side loss matters less than the technical trigger behind it: a weekly close back above the 50-week moving average is the kind of signal trend followers treat as a regime marker rather than a one-day event. That puts the burden of proof on the sellers, who now face a market where the cost of staying wrong has already been demonstrated. The open question is whether spot demand persists now that the forced squeeze has run its course, since liquidations flatter a move without necessarily sustaining it.