Bitcoin primed for $80,000? Three reasons traders expect a rally 'within days'

Bitcoin’s price will continue its latest rally to hit $80,000 “within days,” according to Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks.

He said that the recent rise is powered by deep-pocketed investors stepping in with conviction — not retail traders chasing green candles.

“Major institutions are behind the move,” Selby said in a note shared with DL News. “This is more institutional allocator money, such as advisers and major wealth channels, as opposed to short-term retail or hedge fund basis trade flows.”

The call lands as Bitcoin has rallied about 10% over the past month, trading near $78,000. It remains roughly 38% below its October peak near $126,000, even as the US stock market surged to a fresh all-time high in April.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs have drawn $2.5 billion in net investment in April, according to DefiLlama data. That builds on March’s $1.3 billion, which snapped a four-month outflow streak.

The standout was a $660 million print on 17 April, the largest daily inflow since late 2025. BlackRock’s IBIT captured roughly 85% of the flow.

This time, there are three bullish signals pushing Bitcoin higher, said Selby.

Strategy buys

Behind the rally sits one dominant buyer: Strategy.

The company recently gobbled up roughly 34,164 Bitcoin worth about $2.5 billion, bringing its stash to over $60 billion. That single accumulation occurred roughly 40% below the top crypto’s peak in October 2025.

Around 85% of that purchase was funded through its STRC preferred equity, a security offering an 11.5% dividend backed entirely by Bitcoin holdings.

STRC has become a magnet for yield-hungry investors. It sits between bonds and common stock in the capital structure, offering high payouts while allowing Strategy to continue accumulating Bitcoin.

Satish Patel, an investment analyst at CoinShares, told DL News on Wednesday that the structure is increasingly behaving like a stable-income instrument anchored around par value rather than a volatile Bitcoin proxy. Dividends are classified as return of capital, offering tax advantages that appeal to higher-bracket investors.

Stress test

Second, Bitcoin weathered a major weekend stress test.

A nearly $300 million exploit in a major decentralised finance protocol triggered withdrawals of around $10 billion across crypto projects.

Selby says that in previous cycles, contagion would have spread rapidly. This time, Bitcoin sentiment remained robust. The damage stayed largely contained to a handful of projects.

Stock market sentiment

Third, strength in equities is once again lifting cryptoassets, Selby says.

Bitcoin’s 90-day rolling correlation with the Nasdaq 100, a tech-heavy global benchmark, has climbed from 0.49 in early October to 0.58 by 21 April.

For Selby, that means risk appetite has returned to the broader market — and Bitcoin is riding that tide.

His take is shared by economist Ed Yardeni, who said in a note on Thursday that “sentiment has turned more positive” despite global instability and elevated oil prices.

Crypto market movers 

• Bitcoin is down 0.6% over the past 24 hours at $77,812.
• Ethereum is down 1.6% over the past few hours at $2,314.

What we’re reading 

• Memecoins post 20% rally. But no comeback yet, analysts say — DL News
• Everyone is frothing about Bitcoin treasury company Strategy’s STRC bond. Should they be? — DL News
• US Military Is Running a Live Bitcoin Node for Cybersecurity Research, Indo-Pacific Commander Tells Congress — Unchained
• S&P 7,100, Oil drought, and a $3T bond bet  — Milk Road
• World Liberty founders slam Justin Sun lawsuit alleging extortion, insolvency and of using ‘the Trump brand to profit through fraud’ — DL News

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com