Bitcoin Clears $86,000 as Analysts Declare Crypto Winter Over

Bitcoin held above $86,000 on Tuesday, September 22, after a rally pushed it to its highest level since late January. Fundstrat’s Sean Farrell said he believes the crypto winter is over, though he warned prices may not rise in a straight line.

The move followed gains of more than 5% on Friday and about 6% on Monday, according to Yahoo Finance. The rebound has lifted bitcoin from a low near $58,000 this year, but the token remains well below its record above $125,000 in October.

A chart signal added to the bullish case. Bitcoin recently climbed above its 50-day moving average, a measure of its average price over roughly two months that traders use to gauge near-term direction.

Investor demand also returned to U.S. spot bitcoin funds. They drew nearly $999 million in net inflows on Monday, their largest daily haul since October 2025, according to data from SoSoValue cited by Benzinga.

But buying by investors was not the rally’s only fuel. Nansen analyst Nicolai Søndergaard told Yahoo Finance the move also reflected a short squeeze, when traders betting on lower prices must buy bitcoin back as prices rise. Nearly $919 million in crypto short positions were liquidated during the surge, Benzinga reported, citing CoinGlass data.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel described crypto as being in the early stages of a new bull market and said he saw few signs of overheating, Yahoo Finance reported. Still, the broader crypto market’s $2.94 trillion value on Monday remained about 30% below its October record.

The rally has also reached ether and solana, as optimism grows around blockchain markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission granted a five-year exemption last week for trading certain tokenized stocks, while the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, a bill that would set a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Investors will be watching whether ETF inflows continue after the burst of forced buying fades. Sustained demand would offer stronger evidence of a recovery than a price breakout alone.