Bitcoin surged past $81,800 on Thursday, reversing losses after stronger-than-expected third-quarter U.S. GDP figures. The leading digital asset jumped from under $79,900 to a session high of $81,888 on Bitstamp, adding nearly $2,000 in just over two hours.
U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.4 percent in the third quarter, surprising markets and providing immediate lift to risk assets. The rally directly reversed declines Bitcoin incurred after the Federal Open Market Committee voted to hold interest rates unchanged, which had initially pushed prices from over $81,000 to under $80,000.
Between midnight EST and 9:40 a.m. Bitcoin largely fluctuated around $80,000, encountering resistance at $80,500. The GDP report broke that range. By 1:40 p.m. Bitcoin traded slightly below $81,000, up 0.5 percent on the day.
Bitcoin's market capitalization climbed from $1.61 trillion to $1.64 trillion during this period. Despite the intraday surge, the cryptocurrency remained down approximately 2 percent from its October opening price of around $83,600.
The sudden volatility triggered significant liquidations in the derivatives market. Coinglass data showed total Bitcoin liquidations approached $99 million, with short position liquidations exceeding $52 million. Across the broader cryptocurrency market, $210 million in long positions were liquidated, compared to $202 million in short positions.
Crypto analyst Cryptoreviewing identified significant liquidity clusters on both sides of the order book: $2.4 billion stacked above Bitcoin between $81,500 and $84,000, and $2.9 billion below between $76,000 and $79,500. The analyst flagged the downside as the larger target area. On lower timeframes, key liquidity zones were $78,500–$79,600 to the downside and $80,400–$82,000 to the upside.
Whale positioning shows approximately $490 million in buy orders positioned below the current price between $75,000 and $80,000, with an additional $350 million in buy orders between $80,000 and $86,000. Whales are setting up to accumulate on any dip.
Bitcoin also saw potential support from capital rotation out of AI stocks. Google's significant earnings miss wiped over $500 billion from parent company Alphabet's market capitalization, potentially redirecting investor capital into digital assets.
