Bitcoin hits $81K as US bond yields rebound on global oil woes

Bitcoin (BTC) jumped past $80,000 around Friday’s Wall Street open as fuel-crisis woes spread through global markets.

Key points:

• Bitcoin gained 6% on Friday as concerns about oil supply saw US bond yields reverse higher.
• Crypto markets liquidated $250 million in short positions over four hours.
• BTC price momentum now faces the familiar resistance levels first encountered in May.

BTC surges 6% as US bond yields turn upward

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD filling pockets of upside liquidity to reach local highs of $81,034 on Bitstamp.

BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A cluster of short positions above the spot price came under fire as a result. Per data from CoinGlass, cumulative cross-crypto short liquidations sat near $250 million over four hours.

BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

US WTI crude fell to lows of $94.8 per barrel, only to begin climbing again during the Asia trading session. It is circling $98 at the time of writing.

CFDs on WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In a report on Friday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that countries may have no choice but to cut usage. In March, the IEA released 400 million barrels from its emergency reserves amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Prices for crude and oil products had eased from their April peaks in the months that followed as emergency IEA stocks were released, Strait of Hormuz bypass routes boosted Middle East exports, producers outside the region raised output, flows out of the Persian Gulf partially recovered and global demand softened,” it wrote.

“But if Gulf supplies remain constrained in the coming months and commercial inventory buffers continue to deplete rapidly, higher prices and further demand reductions may be required to close the supply-demand gap.”

The report calculated oil flows through Hormuz at 7.6 million barrels per day in August, 13.1 million below the daily tally before the US-Iran war.

Gulf producers oil exports, February-August 2026 (millions of barrels/day). Source: IEA

US bond yields once again rose amid the oil uncertainty. The US 30-year yield reached 5.34% on the day, up 90 basis points.

US 30-year bond yield one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on rising yields in multiple nations forcing central banks to raise interest rates — a move seen in both the US and Japan this week.

Analyst: Bitcoin price faces key breakout test next

Commenting on low-time frame BTC price action, trader and analyst Rekt Capital said that bulls now faced a “moment of truth.”

Related: Bitcoin adds to bull-market hopes as price metric prints fourth-ever bullish cross

A chart uploaded to X showed $82,000 as a key level for BTC/USD to break though. Failing to do so would constitute a double rejection pattern together with the price action that ended the mid-May rebound.

BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Rekt Capital on X.com

Bitcoin’s latest upside saw it reclaim its True Market Mean, the aggregate cost basis of all coins acquired on secondary markets, which currently sits at $76,660.

“That puts price back above a crucial level and back into a bullish regime,” onchain analytics platform Glassnode told X followers on Friday. 

The cost basis for Bitcoin’s corporate treasuries, meanwhile, lies at $80,500, further reinforcing the significance of the current local range.

Bitcoin cost-basis data. Source: Glassnode on X.com