Bitcoin Price Stalls Below $83K as $14B Options Expiry Nears

Bitcoin’s August short squeeze pushed the price above $80,000, but the rally quickly lost momentum beneath a heavy resistance zone. With Treasury yields climbing and a major options expiry approaching, bitcoin is back inside a clearly defined range.

WRITTEN BYEmmanuel Musa
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Published:Sep 3, 2026, 2:08 PM EDT

Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin’s price topped $80,000 on Aug. 27, then slipped toward $76,000 as the short squeeze faded. The price reached $81,364 today on Sept. 3.
• Rising U.S. 10-year yields and slow ETF turnover are keeping bitcoin pinned below $83,000-$86,000.
• Sept. 25’s $14B options expiry could decide whether bitcoin breaks resistance or retests lower support.

Bitcoin Tests Heavy Supply Zone After Brief Move Above $80K

Bitcoin’s late-August rebound has run into a familiar problem: too much supply overhead.

Bitcoin’s price briefly moved above $80,000 on Aug. 27 after a short squeeze cleared a large amount of bearish leverage. But the move stalled almost immediately. Bitcoin then fell back toward $76,000, triggering a fresh wave of long liquidations.

The current structure leaves the crypto market boxed between two important areas. Short-liquidation liquidity remains concentrated between $83,000 and $86,000, while long-liquidation exposure sits much lower, around $60,000 to $63,000.

That makes the next breakout increasingly important.

Bitcoin Faces Heavier Selling Pressure Near Previous Highs

According to onchain data from Glassnode, bitcoin is encountering more potential sellers at current prices than it did earlier this year. When bitcoin traded near $78,000 in May, about 65% of the circulating supply was held at a profit. When the bitcoin price returned to the same level in late August, that figure had risen to 68%.

The difference reflects accumulation during the summer, which pushed the short-term holder cost basis toward $71,000. As a result, more investors are now sitting on unrealized gains at the same nominal price.

That creates a larger pool of holders who may sell into strength.

The broader price structure is also becoming clearer. A dense accumulation zone between $62,000 and $65,000 provides the strongest nearby support. Above the market, long-term holder supply between $83,000 and $86,000 remains the main barrier to further upside.

Until one side breaks, bitcoin is effectively trading inside that range.

Macro Pressure and Options Market Could Keep Bitcoin Pinned

Institutional demand has not disappeared, but it has lacked force.

U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) absorbed an average of $338 million per day over a nine-day period that attracted inflows of $3.04 billion at the peak of the recent rally. Still, daily secondary-market turnover remained below $3 billion, well below levels seen during stronger expansion phases.

At the same time, macro conditions have become less supportive. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbed back to 4.8%, reaching new cycle highs just eight trading sessions after falling toward 4.6%.

Higher yields tend to pressure risk assets by raising discount rates and reducing the appeal of speculative exposure. Attention now turns to the Sept. 25 quarter-end expiry, which carries roughly $14 billion in open interest across Deribit and IBIT.

For bitcoin traders, the message is straightforward: $83,000 to $86,000 is the ceiling that matters. Unless buyers absorb that supply, the market remains vulnerable to another move toward the lower end of the range. Bitcoin’s price happened to jump to the $81,000 zone on Thursday afternoon as macro elements eased.

The leading crypto asset tapped an intraday high of $81,364 on the five-minute Bitstamp candle at 12 p.m. Eastern time. As of 2 p.m. EDT, BTC is trading for $81,257 per unit.

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Source: news.bitcoin.com