Bitcoin Surges 13% Then Pulls Back as CLARITY Act Falls and Strategy Stockpiles BTC

Bitcoin posted one of its sharpest short-term rallies of 2026 before cooling Tuesday morning in Asia. After climbing more than 13% in four days, the asset retreated to around $85,300 in Singapore trading from an eight-month peak of $87,381 reached during the U.S. session Monday, according to Bloomberg. The rebound lifted Bitcoin roughly $10,000 from last week's lows as crypto joined a broad recovery in risk assets, with the Nasdaq Composite closing at a record high and the S&P 500 gaining 1.49%.

The rally was turbocharged by short sellers getting caught offside. Spot buying cleared resistance at $82,000 and forced more than $230 million in Bitcoin shorts to liquidate, as stop-loss orders pushed the price through $84,000. In total, more than $648 million in bearish positions were wiped out across crypto markets in a single 24-hour window, with XRP, Solana, and Ethereum posting gains of 8.74%, 6.85%, and 5.05%, respectively.

Strategy and Strive Add to Corporate Bitcoin Treasuries

Corporate demand added fuel to the move. Michael Saylor's Strategy acquired 950 BTC for $75.7 million between September 14 and September 20, paying an average of $79,670 per coin. An 8-K filing Monday revealed the purchase, bringing Strategy's total treasury to 846,000 BTC acquired for $63.8 billion. Separately, Strive acquired 1,355 BTC for approximately $107.7 million, lifting its holdings to 26,355 BTC, with both firms adding direct buying pressure as the broader market turned higher.

On the regulatory front, the U.S. Senate's failure to advance the CLARITY Act proved less damaging to sentiment than many expected. The bill, which would have divided digital asset oversight between the SEC and CFTC, fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in September. Traders treated the defeat as a delay rather than a permanent block, repositioning around whatever market-structure legislation comes next. Meanwhile, Glassnode's altcoin season signal flipped positive, with altcoins gaining relative strength on genuine breadth rather than a simple Bitcoin pullback, though other indexes tracking 90-day performance still sit in the mid-40s to low-60s range, well short of the 75% threshold required to confirm a full altcoin season.