Bitcoin surges to $87,000 on Yom Kippur
Bitcoin traded at $86,958 at 4:24 p.m. ET on Sept. 21, according to CoinGecko . The price was up 7.23% over the previous 24 hours, extending a rebound from last week's selloff.
"Sell Rosh Hashanah, buy Yom Kippur" is a calendar pattern traders have repeated for decades. The lore says, markets tend to drift lower between the two Jewish holidays, creating a buying opportunity on Yom Kippur.
Although the saying comes from stock-market history rather than crypto, Bitcoin appeared to follow that script on Yom Kippur. U.S. stock exchanges were open for a regular session Monday because Yom Kippur is not a federal market holiday.
Researchers tested the adage against daily Dow Jones Industrial Average returns from 1907 through 2008. Their study found that a strategy of selling short before Rosh Hashanah and covering after Yom Kippur produced statistically and economically significant returns.
Stock Trader's Almanac data going back to 1971 also showed the Dow falling an average 0.6% between the holidays. That figure needs context because the 2008 financial crisis, when the Dow plunged nearly 21% during the period, pulled the average sharply lower. The median decline was 0.5%.
Monday's move had more immediate causes than the calendar. TheStreet earlier reported that $647.9 million in Bitcoin short positions had been liquidated by late Monday morning, part of $746.6 million in total Bitcoin liquidations over 24 hours.
When a short position is liquidated, an exchange buys Bitcoin to close the trade. That forced buying can accelerate a rally as prices move through levels where bearish traders placed their stops.
Bitcoin pushed through $85,000 and then $86,000 after the U.S. stock market opened. Stocks also rose as oil prices and Treasury yields fell, supporting demand for technology shares and other risk assets.
The rally followed a difficult week for crypto. The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15, leaving a proposed federal market structure for digital assets stalled in Congress.
