Bitcoin’s Best Week In 3 Years Amid Record Short Liquidations Puts $126K Overshoot Back In Play, Standard Chartered Says

Bitcoin posted its best week in three years, climbing roughly 24% over seven days to trade around $76,844 on Friday, August 21, 2026, according to CoinGecko data cited by crypto.news. The rally, driven mainly by short liquidations, prompted Standard Chartered's global head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick, to write that for the first time this year his $100,000 year-end forecast may be too low. Kendrick said Bitcoin could move toward its previous $126,000 record before year-end, with the recovery potentially accelerating after October 6. XRP also notched its best week since the 2024 election pump, trading near $1.29, up 30% since last weekend's close under $1, per Decrypt.

Background

The sources describe a market recovering from an extended decline. Bitcoin had spent much of the past two months around the $60,000 to $65,000 range before this week's surge. Standard Chartered had retained its $100,000 Bitcoin target through the June selloff: on June 4, after BTC fell more than 15% in a week and briefly moved toward $61,000, the bank kept the forecast, and nine days later it held the same target after Bitcoin fell toward $59,000 and recovered to roughly $63,500. Kendrick at the time called the move toward $59,000 the likely low of the cycle, tying it to forced selling, weak ETF flows and liquidity stress. Bitcoin has since risen more than $17,000 above that June low. ETF demand had already begun improving during July: on July 3, spot Bitcoin ETF inflows ended a 10-day negative streak after U.S.-listed funds recorded $221.7 million in net inflows on July 2, per SoSoValue data cited by crypto.news, with BTC near $61,700. By July 21, BTC had returned above $65,000 as spot ETF inflows extended to five consecutive sessions, trading around $65,245, with $70,000 an important resistance level. The latest rally has carried Bitcoin well beyond both levels. Decrypt notes the spark came Thursday when Bitcoin punched past $72,000, its highest price since a June flash crash, after the U.S. Treasury said it would double long-bond buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation starting September 9.

What happened

According to crypto.news, Bitcoin climbed about 24% over the past week to around $76,844, up roughly 24% over seven days per CoinGecko data. Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick wrote in a Friday note that the rally has been driven mainly by short liquidations, while recovering inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs could provide another source of demand if the advance continues. Kendrick said low open interest across the market leaves room for investors to rebuild positions as Bitcoin rises. He wrote: "For the first time this year there is now a risk my end year forecast (of USD100k) is too low." Kendrick said Bitcoin could move toward its previous record before the end of the year, with the recovery potentially accelerating after Oct. 6, a date corresponding closely with Bitcoin's 2025 market peak. Standard Chartered has not formally replaced its $100,000 year-end forecast with a $126,000 target; Kendrick described the all-time high as a level Bitcoin may revisit if the recovery gathers momentum. Decrypt reported that XRP traded near $1.29, up 30% since last weekend's close under $1, after bottoming at $0.9862 last week. Wednesday's session did the heavy lifting with a 10.40% gain, XRP's sharpest single-day move since February 6, and Thursday brought a second leg higher toward $1.32. Decrypt attributed the spark to Bitcoin punching past $72,000 Thursday after the U.S. Treasury said it would double long-bond buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation starting September 9, triggering $3 billion in short liquidations over 24 hours, hours before Trump met crypto executives from Coinbase, Ripple and Robinhood at the White House.

Market impact

At $76,844, Bitcoin remained about 39% below Standard Chartered's $100,000 forecast and roughly 64% below the $126,000 record high, per crypto.news. Bitcoin has risen more than $17,000 above its June low near $59,000. Decrypt reported that Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $517 million, their biggest single-day haul since May, while daily XRP ETF inflows fell from $5.81 million to $2.35 million the same day the token beat Bitcoin's gains. XRP's futures open interest has already dropped 11.31% from its rally-day reading, and XRP still trades about 17.5% below its 200-day trend. On the daily chart, XRP's Relative Strength Index spiked to 79.2, deep into overbought territory, and its Average Directional Index held well above 29, indicating increasing trend strength. Decrypt also noted XRP outran what its usual correlation to Bitcoin would predict. Earlier in the recovery, spot Bitcoin ETF inflows ended a 10-day negative streak after U.S.-listed funds recorded $221.7 million in net inflows on July 2, per SoSoValue data cited by crypto.news, and by July 21 inflows had extended to five consecutive sessions as BTC traded around $65,245.

Why it matters

The sources frame the rally as a test of whether Bitcoin's recovery can be sustained beyond forced short covering. Kendrick's assessment hinges on ETF demand becoming a source of buying that does not depend solely on traders being forced out of short positions, and on low open interest leaving room for investors to rebuild positions. The October 6 date matters because it corresponds closely with Bitcoin's 2025 market peak, after which the cryptocurrency entered an extended decline into 2026; Kendrick's view focuses on whether BTC can maintain its recovery once the market moves beyond the anniversary of that high. For XRP, Decrypt argues that despite the big move, the asset must continue posting gains, even at a slower pace, to activate signals of a sustained trend reversal, given its long-term trajectory and the drop in futures open interest. The sources also show the bank's forecast evolving: Standard Chartered held its $100,000 target through the June selloff, and Kendrick now acknowledges it could prove conservative, though no formal target change has been made.