Bitcoin Holds Above $64,500 as Short Liquidations Drop

Bitcoin briefly approached $65,000 on Thursday, holding support above $64,500 despite intraday pullbacks to $64,144 and bringing its gains since Aug. 1 to roughly 3%.

Bitcoin nearly reached $65,000 on Thursday as the cryptocurrency’s gradual rise, albeit a slower one since the start of the month, showed no signs of slowing. Although selling pressure weighed on the market at times, bitcoin’s daily chart showed support above $64,500 during pullbacks.

However, bitcoin slipped below that threshold in two separate trading sessions. The first drop occurred between 9 p.m. and midnight, when the price fell to around $64,480 or lower. While bitcoin rallied past $64,900 by 1:30 a.m. EST, a similar pattern emerged shortly after 8 a.m., when the asset dropped to a 24-hour low of $64,144.

A swift rebound erased those losses, pushing bitcoin back past $64,800. At the time of writing, the asset was trading above $64,500, up 0.2% on the day. Since the start of the month, bitcoin’s U.S. dollar value has risen by more than $2,000, or roughly 3%.

Some traders, however, see potential upside. If the proposal results in a network split into two distinct chains, investors holding bitcoin prior to the snapshot date expect to receive an equivalent balance of the new token on the split chain. This expectation often drives pre-fork buying pressure, establishing price floors as traders accumulate the asset to claim the newly created token.

Conversely, if buying is driven solely by snapshot eligibility, a wave of profit-taking will likely follow the fork’s execution, triggering short-term pullbacks. Still, once the hard fork is complete and technical uncertainty resolves, bitcoin typically resumes its broader macroeconomic upward trend—a pattern likely to reassure cautious investors.