Why Bitcoin’s August rally has investors rethinking BTC’s September fortunes

The market is now more than halfway through Q3, with prediction markets heating up.

So far, it seems that August has gone against the broader market trends. From a technical perspective, $BTC this month climbed by more than 25%.

The result? A short liquidation cascade with over $800 million squeezed on the 19th of August alone redirected speculators’ attention to $BTC’s potential end-of-month target and the outlook for September.

According to CoinGlass statistics, September has traditionally been the most bearish month for <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/bull-market-seeds-may-be-planted-for-bitcoin-bet-on-btcu/” title=”Bull Market Seeds May Be Planted for Bitcoin. Bet on BTCU.”>Bitcoin. On average, the ROI for $BTC during this period stands at -3%.

Nevertheless, $BTC has closed the month on a green note for the past three cycles in a row, meaning that another positive September cannot be ruled out. However, it seems that short-term holders are de

As illustrated in the chart above, STHs began to take profits on prices of Bitcoin’s rally toward $80,000.

Indeed, the amount of $BTC sent by short-term holders crossed 60,000 $BTC on the 20th of August, which might indicate that profit-taking increased along with the price increase of $BTC.

That said, FOMO now appears to be picking up. The profit-taking observed so far seems to be tapering off, with only 16,300 $BTC transferred to exchanges in the past 24 hours (in profit).

This indicates that STH selling pressure is subsiding, even though Bitcoin remains near its recent highs.

The key takeaway? FOMO is no longer exclusive to STHs. Notably, previously bearish on-chain indicators are now turning bullish, thus signaling that the market may be gearing up for a larger Bitcoin [$BTC] rally in September.

Bitcoin’s $80k target comes back into focus

Interestingly, Bitcoin is breaking a 13-year-old pattern.

August has always been a weak month for Bitcoin. For thirteen years, it had a negative median return of -6.99%. So far, 2026 August has been a clear outlier, at +25.58% for $BTC.

If the price continues to climb, it could very well finish up as the best month for the cryptocurrency since November of 2024 and the best August since 2017.

In addition, the inflow of buying interest from U.S. investors appears to be picking up, as the chart below shows. Specifically, the Bitcoin’s Coinbase Premium Index has turned positive for the first time in over three months, suggesting that the buying pressure from U.S. investors has increased.

Given August’s strong ROI, this uptick in demand does not look like a fluke. Instead, it seems that FOMO is beginning to affect the US market participants as well.

Therefore, given the market’s high hopes for $BTC/USD to close above $80k by the end of August, there is nothing impossible in this scenario.

In fact, on-chain data suggests that September may be another exciting month for Bitcoin, with STHs profit-taking, reduced selling pressure, and bearish on-chain indicators turning bullish.

Final Summary

• Bitcoin is having a strong August, with $BTC up over 25% and $80k back in focus.
• Selling pressure is easing, while buying interest is rising, setting up a strong September for $BTC.

Source: cryptonews.net