Bitcoin has climbed back above the 80,000 USD mark after chipmaker Nvidia stunned Wall Street with a quarterly earnings report that added more than 400 billion USD to its market value in a single day — but a major options expiry on Friday could decide whether the rally has legs.
By Marcus Johnson | August 28, 2026
The Hook: Why a Chip Company Moved Your Bitcoin
Here is the simple version: Bitcoin often trades like a high-growth tech stock. When big tech does well, investors feel richer and more willing to take risks — and Bitcoin is one of the riskiest assets they can buy. So when Nvidia, the giant behind the chips that power artificial intelligence, reported quarterly earnings of 96.2 billion USD — nearly 4 billion USD more than analysts expected — the good mood spilled straight into crypto.
According to Cointelegraph and data from TradingView, Bitcoin pushed to a new local high of about 80,808 USD around Thursday’s Wall Street open, as bulls worked to turn the 80,000 USD level from a ceiling into a floor. Nvidia shares surged more than 9% on the news, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained about 1%.
Trading resource The Kobeissi Letter summed it up on X: “Nvidia is now on track to post the 3rd largest single-day market cap gain by a stock in history.”
Where Bitcoin Stands Right Now
After the Thursday pop, Bitcoin has cooled slightly and was trading around 79,600 USD, according to the latest CoinGecko data — still holding near the top of its recent range. For everyday investors, the takeaway is that the market’s biggest AI story is quietly acting as a support beam under Bitcoin’s price.
Not everything is smooth, though. Data from CoinGlass shows roughly 417 million USD in crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours — traders who borrowed money to bet on price moves got wiped out when the market swung. Liquidations are a reminder that even a rally can be violent underneath.
The Core Conflict: Jackson Hole vs. the Options Expiry
Two big events are competing for control of Bitcoin’s next move, and both land within about 24 hours of each other.
- Fed chair Kevin Warsh speaks Friday — Markets are nervously waiting for the keynote from the US Federal Reserve chair at the Jackson Hole economic symposium. Kathy Bostjancic, chief US economist at Nationwide, told CNBC the address is “extremely key” because long-term interest rates have jumped and investors are uncertain about the path of inflation and the Fed’s reaction.
- A 6.58 billion USD options expiry hits Friday — Contracts covering about 81,700 BTC expire on the Deribit exchange. Options expiries are moments when large trading positions settle, and they can push the price toward certain levels, causing extra volatility around the event.
Think of it like this: one event (the Fed speech) can change how investors feel about risk in general, while the other (the expiry) can mechanically shove the price around as traders reposition. When both happen on the same day, the swings can be sharp.
The Sell Wall Is Thinning, Analysts Say
Here is the encouraging part for Bitcoin bulls. For weeks, analysts have watched a thick band of sell orders sitting between roughly 82,000 and 86,000 USD — a “liquidity wall” that has capped every rally attempt. According to prior Cointelegraph reporting, that zone has created real friction for further upside.
But analyst David Eng argues that wall is weakening right as the options expiry loosens the derivatives structure that has been pinning Bitcoin down. “BTC is compressed under resistance just as the derivatives structure holding it there is about to weaken. Break 82K and the path to 85K+ gets much cleaner,” he told followers on X.
What This Means For You
If you own Bitcoin or are thinking about buying, the practical read is this: the short-term picture is a coin flip between Friday’s Fed speech and the options expiry, so expect choppiness rather than a clean trend over the next day or two. The medium-term picture looks more constructive — a record-breaking AI earnings season is propping up risk assets, and the selling pressure overhead appears to be thinning.
The sensible move is the boring one: don’t over-leverage into an event-heavy Friday, and watch whether Bitcoin can hold the 80,000 USD area as support. If it breaks decisively above 82,000 USD, analysts see room toward the mid-80,000s. If the Fed surprises hawkishly, a pullback below support would not be unusual.
The Verdict
Bitcoin’s rebound above 80,000 USD is being powered less by crypto-native news and more by the same force lifting the Nasdaq: Nvidia and the AI boom. That linkage cuts both ways — it lifts Bitcoin when tech is hot, but it also means a disappointment in AI earnings or a hawkish Fed could pull the rug. With the sell wall thinning but two major events landing Friday, the smartest position for regular investors is cautious optimism, sized for volatility.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
96 bil quarter and 400 bil added to nvda market cap in ONE day. and btc manages a modest bounce back to 80k. tech beta runs this market lol
honestly same reaction. if risk appetite was really back we would be through 82k by now
The NVDA correlation cuts both ways though. 400 bil added in a day is great until an earnings miss and suddenly BTC is the first thing sold. Enjoy the beta while it lasts.
honestly btc lagging nvda this hard is the bearish tell nobody wants to hear
btc at 80k while nvda rips means crypto is renting this rally, not owning it. correlation inverts fast when tech sneezes
renting is generous. btc took the nvda bid and stalled right at that 80,808 local high. first clean daily close above 82k and ill admit it owns something
btc holding gains with a 6.6b expiry parked right overhead is honestly more impressive than the nvidia correlation. someone is defending those strikes hard
everyone focused on the 6.6 bil expiry but that is small next to recent ones. max pain probably pins us near 80k till friday anyway
max pain stuff is astrology for options traders, but yeah an 80k pin sounds about right
6.6 bil is mid sized but positioning is skewed long after this bounce. gamma does the rest around the pin
the positioning skew is the real story here. everyone piled long after the bounce so gamma has an easy job pinning us right under 80 into the print. probably boring till monday
6.6 bil expiry on the same day Warsh gets a mic at jackson hole. one hawkish sentence and every long stacked from 78k is underwater instantly. cool candle, weak hands
one dovish word from warsh and its the shorts getting squeezed instead of the longs flushed. cuts both ways my guy
nvidia adds 400 bil in market value in a day and btc barely claws back 80k. tells you who is actually leading this rally lol
also that 6.58 bil expiry lands friday, max pain probably sits just under 80k. would not get comfy up here
max pain math assumes market makers always get their wish. plenty of expiries where price just ignores it. still trimmed into friday tho, not trying to find out the hard way
417 mil in liquidations during a rally, per coinglass. imagine what that expiry does if we chop back under 80
Warsh speaking at Jackson Hole the same day as a 6.6 billion dollar expiry is an unusually risky setup for anyone running leverage into Friday. I would size down, not up, here.
sizing down is the only sane play. expiry plus warsh plus jackson hole q&a is three vol events stacked on one afternoon
80,808 local high and everyone acting like 80k flipped already. it hasnt until it holds after friday
Kathy Bostjancic calling the address extremely key feels like underselling it. long rates already jumped and he has not said a word yet
The article nailed it with the high-growth tech stock framing. Nvidia mood lifted everything, but a Fed chair openly dismissing soft CPI prints can override that in one sentence. I am not adding before Jackson Hole.
96 bil nvda quarter lifting btc back over 80k is nice, the real test is whether 80 holds once the expiry clears. bounces into fridays have a habit of fading
6.6 billion in options expiring the same week as a 96 billion nvidia quarter feels engineered. whoever is short those 82k calls is not sleeping much
82k calls into a 6.6b expiry, the max pain pin writes itself. more curious what happens monday once the dealers are flat