Bitcoin Price Rises 4% as CFTC Moves to Bypass Clarity Act
Bitcoin (BTC) price Surges by 4.10% to $81,258.52, outperforming the broader market’s 3.69% gain, primarily driven by renewed institutional demand via spot ETFs and a cascading short squeeze.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $159.45 million in net inflows on September 18, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with $183.66 million.
This reversed a multi-day outflow trend and coincided with positive regulatory signals, including the SEC’s “Innovation Waiver” for tokenized securities trading and the CFTC sending a crypto framework to the White House.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is bypassing stalled congressional legislation to establish a federal crypto framework independently.
By filing “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Markets” with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the CFTC is utilizing its existing authority to potentially designate crypto exchanges as Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCMs) under purpose-fit rules.
This executive branch action mitigates the immediate regulatory vacuum left by the Senate’s failure to pass the Clarity Act.
For investors, this signals that market structure rules are incoming regardless of legislative gridlock, which could provide the legal certainty needed for institutional capital deployment while simultaneously increasing compliance costs for unregulated offshore venues.
In addition to regulatory tailwind, BTC price move was fuelled by a return of institutional capital, interpreting regulatory developments as a reduction in near-term policy risk.
The rally triggered aggressive liquidations, with $228.88 million in Bitcoin positions wiped out in 24 hours—a 181% surge, per global metrics. The vast majority were short bets.
Traders said forced buying from these liquidations added fuel to the upward move. Leveraged traders betting against Bitcoin were caught off-guard, and their forced covering accelerated the price surge.
The immediate path hinges on Bitcoin holding the $80,000 psychological level. The next major resistance is a dense cluster between $81,800 and $82,700, a zone where significant short positions are concentrated according to analysts.
The 50-day simple moving average at $77,300 provides the next major support. The breakout is technically valid, but the market is now testing a historically significant supply area.
A daily close above $82,000 to confirm the breakout’s strength, or a rejection and fall back below $80,000, which would suggest a false breakout and potential consolidation.
Bitcoin’s rally is supported by a clear catalyst of institutional inflows and amplified by a derivatives squeeze, giving it a solid foundation in the near term. Netflix Tokenized bStocks Falls on Low Liquidity, Thin Transaction
