Bitcoin Jumps Past $81,000 as Short Sellers Get Liquidated and ETFs Post Two Straight Days of Inflows

Since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024, they've quietly built up a stockpile of roughly 1.27 to 1.32 million BTC. As of this week that stockpile equals about 6.29% of Bitcoin's entire 21-million-coin supply, worth roughly $102.5 billion, according to Crypto Briefing and TradingView.

Bitcoin traded around $81,000 on the evening of Friday, September 18, according to CoinGecko data cited by KuCoin, up 6% on the day and its highest level since September 7. The daily range ran from $76,205 to $81,213. Over the past twelve months, Bitcoin is still down roughly 31% and about a third below its all-time high of $126,080, set in October 2025.

What actually moved the price

KuCoin, citing CoinDesk, reports that roughly $238 million in Bitcoin short positions were force-closed within 24 hours, with about $470 million liquidated across the crypto market as a whole. Traders who bet on falling prices with leverage had to buy back their positions, which accelerated the upward move. This is a mechanical, well-documented feature of leveraged markets.

Regulatory news added fuel. The CLARITY Act, which would have set clearer federal rules for crypto markets, failed in the U.S. Senate around mid-September. Two days later, on September 17, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent two crypto market rule proposals to the White House for review, according to KuCoin. Traders read that as a sign regulators are moving forward even without new legislation from Congress.

The Federal Reserve also raised its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points this week, and the Bank of Japan followed with its own move. Higher rates typically make risk assets like Bitcoin less attractive. Bitcoin currently trades closely in step with U.S. tech stocks, meaning every recovery stays exposed to setbacks tied to Fed policy.

ETFs keep buying, concentrated in two funds

According to Bloomingbit, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted net inflows of $433.03 million on September 18, following $159 million the day before, for a two-day total near $592 million. Fidelity's FBTC led the September 18 session with $310.72 million, or 71.8% of that day's total. BlackRock's IBIT added another $108.44 million. Together the two funds accounted for 96.8% of the day's inflows, per Bloomingbit's data, sourced to SoSoValue.

Bitwise's BITB drew $9.69 million, VanEck's HODL took in $2.29 million, and Ark Invest/21Shares' ARKB added $1.88 million. Grayscale's GBTC and BTC, along with Morgan Stanley's MSBT, recorded no net flows that day.

Cumulative net inflows across all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs now stand at about $55.16 billion, according to Bloomingbit. IBIT alone has drawn $64.12 billion in cumulative inflows and controls more than 60% of the group's roughly $100 billion in total assets, a concentration Phemex's data also confirms. Grayscale's GBTC, by contrast, has bled $27.84 billion in cumulative outflows since it converted to a spot ETF, as investors rotated into lower-fee competitors.

The case for caution

Not everyone is reading this as a clean bull signal. Anton Kharitonov, an analyst at Traders Union, points to persistently high short interest in BlackRock's IBIT and says corporate treasury demand for Bitcoin has slowed, with Bitcoin-focused treasury companies losing significant market value since July 2025. A rally built substantially on forced short covering isn't the same thing as fresh, durable buying pressure. If leveraged shorts have already been flushed out, that tailwind disappears. Kharitonov warns that if the $79,600 support level fails, the bullish sentiment could reverse quickly.

Viktoras Karapetjanc, another Traders Union analyst, takes the opposite view, arguing that sustained ETF inflows since August 2026 and the CFTC's regulatory moves point to genuine institutional demand, and that a breakout above $83,852 would open room for further gains.

The September 18 spike leaned heavily on liquidations, according to the CoinDesk figures KuCoin cited. The ETF inflows kept coming for a second straight day afterward, per Bloomingbit, which suggests at least some of the demand isn't just short covering unwinding.

What happens next

The supply math raises its own question. Crypto Briefing calculates that pushing ETF ownership from 6.29% to 10% of Bitcoin's total supply would require another $60.5 billion in assets at current prices, and that estimate assumes Bitcoin's price stays flat, which it hasn't. Every dollar that goes into IBIT or FBTC pulls coins out of active circulation permanently, since ETF-held Bitcoin doesn't get lent, staked, or traded.

The open questions now are whether Kharitonov's $79,600 support line holds, whether the CFTC's rule proposals move from the White House review stage into actual policy, and whether ETF inflows keep running once the effects of last week's short liquidations fully wash out of the price action.