Bitcoin Tops $81,000 After Midterm Dip, Squeezing Short Sellers

The move matters less for the headline level than for what it reveals about positioning: the midterm dip drew bearish bets, and the reversal punished them rather than confirming the downside. That reflexivity — where a political event briefly sets the narrative and then gets overrun by crowded short exposure — is the real story for leveraged traders. Whether the squeeze reflects genuine demand or just forced covering is the open question, and it will show up in how the market behaves once the short unwind is done.