$1.37 billion in crypto short positions were liquidated over a single 24-hour window as $BTC climbed more than 20% from its Aug. 19 levels, briefly reaching $79,000 on Aug. 21, per CoinGlass data. Mark Cuban, billionaire investor, says that liquidation figure explains the move. He is not persuaded.
| Metric | Value (reported) |
|---|---|
| Weekly gain (week of Aug. 19) | +20%+ |
| Intraday peak (Aug. 21) | $79,000 |
| Short liquidations, 24h | $1.37B (CoinGlass) |
| $BTC price at press time | ~$76,996 |
| 24h gain at press time | ~+6% |
The mechanics
Two policy moves converged around Aug. 19 and set off the squeeze. President Donald Trump hosted crypto executives at the White House and urged Congress to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act, legislation that would establish clearer rules for determining whether digital assets are securities or commodities under U.S. law. Separately, the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double some long-dated Treasury buyback operations to $4 billion, a step intended to improve liquidity in parts of the government bond market. Long-term yields initially fell following that announcement. Together, the announcements eased financial conditions and moved a heavily short-positioned market into forced covering.
Cuban's read
Cuban told TheStreet Roundtable on Aug. 21 that the rebound had not shifted his view. "Just confirmed what I thought. It took the administration causing a short squeeze to push up the price. Nothing has really changed," he said in an emailed response.
His skepticism predates this week. In a May 21 interview with Front Office Sports, Cuban said Bitcoin had "lost the plot" after failing to act like the gold alternative he once expected. "I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold. But gold just blew up and went to $5,000, and Bitcoin dropped," he said. He also disclosed that he had sold most of his Bitcoin holdings after the asset failed to respond as expected when the U.S. dollar weakened. "It's not the hedge I expected it to be."
Cuban's framing separates protocol from price. A policy-induced short squeeze, in his view, does not fix the two investment theses he held for Bitcoin: a better store of value than gold, and a hedge against a weakening dollar. Both failed the test. $BTC was trading around $76,996 at press time, up roughly 6% over 24 hours.