TL;DR
- Bitcoin broke above $118,000, triggering over $1 billion in liquidations within 24 hours — the highest figure of the year for the crypto market.
- A Keyrock report projects BTC at $160,000 if treasury firms holding BTC manage to maintain their current financial structure.
- Keyrock sees the most likely scenario as BTC ending the year at $135,000, with downside risk if new company listings increase.
The crypto market recorded its largest liquidation event of the year this week. Over $1 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out within just 24 hours after a sharp Bitcoin rally pushed its price past $118,000.
BTC’s surge unleashed a wave of forced buybacks among traders who had bet on a price drop and got caught in a cascading liquidation. According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin short positions alone accounted for $655 million of the total, while Ethereum shorts contributed nearly $300 million.
At the moment, Bitcoin is trading just below $118,000, up 6.45% over the last 24 hours. Its trading volume jumped 116%, surpassing $128 billion.
Bitcoin’s rally caught part of the market off guard, as many expected a correction after the asset hit new highs around $112,000. However, BTC kept climbing, driven by forced repurchases and sustained capital inflows. Ethereum also gained from the momentum and remains near record levels, with some projections suggesting it could attempt a move toward $15,000 before year-end if this trend continues.
Can Strategy Push Bitcoin to $160K?
A report released by Keyrock outlined a potential scenario for Bitcoin through the rest of 2025. The analysis estimates that if companies holding BTC in their treasuries manage to preserve their current financial structure, the cryptocurrency’s price could reach $160,000 before December. These firms — led by Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy — hold roughly 3.6% of Bitcoin’s total supply and rely on their shares trading at a substantial premium to the value of the BTC they hold.
That premium enables them to finance new BTC purchases and cover debts, but any sharp drop in their stock prices or a contraction of that premium could compromise their operating capacity.
The report identifies two types of firms within this group: those with sufficient operating cash flow to remain self-sustaining, and others that depend almost entirely on capital markets. Keyrock views a year-end BTC price around $135,000 as the most probable scenario, while warning that a market downturn or a flood of new treasury firms could pressure both stock prices and BTC itself lower
