Leveraged Shorts Wiped Out in Derivatives Flurry

Building on a recovery that wiped out Monday’s losses, bitcoin comfortably surpassed the $65,000 threshold on Wednesday. This latest leg up moved in lockstep with the release of U.S. producer price index (PPI) data. Mirroring the previous day’s consumer price index (CPI) release, the PPI’s unexpected 0.3% month-over-month deflation caught analysts by surprise, many of whom had anticipated prices to hold flat.

Before testing levels last seen on June 22, the top cryptocurrency spent much of Tuesday evening through early Wednesday consolidating between $64,500 and $65,000. The gridlock broke shortly after 8 a.m. EST, when a sharp rally propelled bitcoin to an intraday peak of $65,518….