Bitcoin snaps six-year S&P 500 underperformance streak with sharp weekly rally

Bitcoin ↘ 3.19% staged its most dramatic rally of 2026 this week, climbing from around $63,000 to nearly $79,000 and snapping a three-month streak of underperformance against the S&P 500 — the longest such streak in six years.

A Week That Rewrote the Narrative

The rally began accelerating on Wednesday after a U.S. Treasury announcement helped calm bond-market stress, with Bitcoin jumping above $71,000 by Thursday morning. By Friday, the cryptocurrency had pushed past $76,000 and continued climbing above $78,000 into the weekend.cryptopotato+3

The move was fueled by several converging forces: Bitcoin ETF inflows of $1.92 billion during the week, expectations around U.S. crypto legislation, and a record $2.7 billion short squeeze — the largest liquidation event since records began in 2021. An additional $3.5 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated between August 20 and 21.ambcrypto+1

Breaking a Historic Underperformance

The surge reversed what blockchain analytics firm Glassnode described as Bitcoin's longest relative underperformance streak against the S&P 500 in six years. According to Glassnode, Bitcoin had outperformed the benchmark index on only about one-third of trading days over the prior three months, even as the S&P 500 charted consecutive all-time highs through an AI-driven equity rally.coindesk+3

"BTC only outperformed the S&P 500 on around one third of trading days over the last three months," Glassnode noted in a post on August 17. "This is the longest underperformance streak we've seen over the last six years of history."cryptopotato

The BTC-to-S&P 500 relative-performance ratio had declined from around 3x to nearly 2.2x over those months but snapped back to approximately 2.82x following the rally.ambcrypto

What Comes Next

Despite the momentum, analysts remain cautious. The rally pushed Bitcoin's RSI into overbought territory, a level that has historically preceded pullbacks. CNBC reported that Kalshi traders estimate Bitcoin's year-end price at around $75,000, while prediction markets price a 42% chance of reaching $90,000 by December.cnbc+2

CryptoPotato noted it would be "premature to conclude that there's a decisive decoupling" from equities, given Bitcoin's tendency to trade as a high-beta risk asset during periods when interest-rate expectations dominate. The cryptocurrency's next test lies in the $83,000–$85,000 supply zone, where overhead resistance could stall further gains.ambcrypto+1