Bitcoin 

BTC

$21,143

 swiftly reclaimed $50,000 on Thursday as bears felt maximum pain and lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bitcoin sparks a fresh bear bloodbath

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD suddenly breaking through the $50,000 mark to hit its highest since Aug. 23.

After a night of bullish action, the pair left its lower trading range of recent weeks behind, with volatility still significant at the time of writing. Local highs topped $50,300 on Bitstamp.

As Cointelegraph reported, $51,000 remains the level to beat in order to cement a continuation of the 2021 Bitcoin bull run.

Heavy resistance remained at that level Thursday, with analysts waiting to see if the latest uptick had the momentum required to change the longer-term paradigm.

“Bitcoin facing final hurdle before $57K,” Cointelegraph contributing analyst Michaël van de Poppe tweeted in his latest update.

“Welcome back to $50,000 BTC,” fellow analyst Rekt Capital added.

Short traders lost out heavily from the upside, with liquidations hitting almost half a billion dollars in the past 24 hours.

Not so boring after all

As Cointelegraph noted, September tends to be a “boring” month when it comes to Bitcoin returns, with 6% currently the best performance on record.

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Price forecasts take account of the anomaly, with the popular “worst-case scenario” series from stock-to-flow model creator PlanB calling for a $43,000 minimum monthly close.

The statistician’s August monthly close prediction, $47,000, was exactly on point. October, he calculates, should close at a minimum of $68,000 — a new all-time high.