Bitcoin resists despite liquidations, driven by ETFs and Nasdaq

No hangovers. Bitcoin is trading around $86,400 on the morning of September 23, barely more than 1% below its peak overnight from Monday to Tuesday. The market, which had passed $85,000 for the first time since January, is digesting its short squeeze without giving back its gains.

Were you expecting a purge after more than a billion dollars of positions liquidated in 24 hours? Three supports keep the price afloat, and two of them take place far from the blockchain.

Bitcoin ETF: Wall Street puts a coin back into the machine

On Monday, September 21, US spot bitcoin ETFs collected a net $998.95 million in a single session, their best day of 2026 according to Bitcoin.com News. BlackRock led the way with 381 million via IBIT. ARKB and Fidelity's FBTC followed with almost 530 million between them.

The most telling figure is elsewhere. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart estimates the average cost price of ETF holders at around $81,700, putting them back in the green for the first time since January. As long as they were in loss, these investors sold at the slightest rebound to break even and move on.

Bitcoin and Nasdaq: the barrel looses ballast

On Tuesday, the Nasdaq set a new session record. The trigger is to be found in oil, since Brent briefly fell below 98 dollars, far from the 100 dollar mark that it was still close to the day before. Less expensive oil means less imported inflation, so less reason for the Fed to tighten the screw further.

Bitcoin sticks to tech stocks like a shadow. And geopolitics gave a boost. At the UN, Donald Trump predicted an agreement with Iran “just after the election” on November 3, while threatening to annihilate the Islamic Republic in the event of failure. The markets chose to hear only the first half of the sentence.

Bitcoin and the Fed: one hand shakes, the other waters

This is the paradox of September. The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points on September 16, and bitcoin gained 13% in four days. The explanation lies in a monetary plumbing detail that Decrypt noted on September 22. Since December 2025, the central bank has been buying short-term Treasury bills to keep bank reserves “abundant”.

On the graph, the result can be seen. Bitcoin has crossed its 50-week moving average (the average price of the last fifty weekly closes) for the first time in 45 weeks, a signal that many managers follow to the letter.

But don’t sell the bear’s skin too quickly. The peak of $87,381 was not recaptured, and it took more than a billion liquidations from short sellers to reach it. This fuel is not renewed every day.