Crypto bull market reversal: Who rebounded the most strongly?

Author: Joe Zhou, Forestight News

The cryptocurrency market, which had been quiet for almost a year, suddenly exploded last week.

Bitcoin surged dramatically from around $62,800 at the start of the week, reaching a high of $79,500 on August 21, marking a weekly gain of over 26% and the largest weekly increase since March 2023. The market is buzzing with talk of a "bull run."

The signal won't just ring once, but the real test lies in whether we can accurately identify its nature. Even more important is asking: in this rebound, which assets have risen justifiably, and which are merely following the trend? The answer holds the key to the next phase.

What market patterns has this bull market rebound validated once again?

Every extreme market movement is not just random noise, but a stress test of the market structure. This rebound once again confirms several clear patterns.

Rule 1: Short-term directional shifts in the crypto market are highly dependent on the fluctuations of the US policy cycle.

Looking back over the past four years, several major turning points in the cryptocurrency market—whether it's the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the shift in the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and cut cycle, or the recent US Treasury repurchase operation—have almost all resonated with the rhythm of US fiscal and regulatory policies. Market pricing power is gradually giving way from the native on-chain leverage cycle of crypto to macro liquidity and regulatory expectations.

This time was no exception. From a news perspective, the core drivers of the rebound can be attributed to two points:

First, the long-term bond repurchase policy triggered a reversal in macro liquidity expectations. On August 19, US Treasury Secretary Bessant announced that the size of a single repurchase of 10- to 30-year long-term Treasury bonds would be increased from $2 billion to at least $4 billion to address the previous surge in long-term yields and the sharp sell-off of long-term Treasury bonds. The market quickly interpreted this as: the US government using easing measures to alleviate its own borrowing cost pressures → the dollar weakening under pressure → funds shifting to alternative value stores such as gold and Bitcoin. Due to Bitcoin's highly volatile risk asset characteristics, its price increase was the most outstanding among similar assets.

Second, Trump's push for crypto legislation catalyzed a recovery in risk appetite. Almost simultaneously, Trump met with executives from crypto companies such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple at the White House, publicly urging Congress to quickly pass the Clarity Act for Digital Assets to clarify the jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. This move was seen by the market as a signal of reduced regulatory uncertainty, further boosting the recovery of risk appetite.

One point that needs special mention is that the SEC also released a draft of new rules for cryptocurrency token sales on August 18th, which the market sees as a positive signal towards clear rules for token issuance. The market is calling it "legal ICO 2.0." This means that the previous unregulated ICO model is gradually "evolving," and today's ICOs will be subject to a completely new regulatory framework with limits on issuance, information disclosure requirements, and exit mechanisms.

Rule 2: Bitcoin spot ETFs have become a market bellwether and continue to lead the entire crypto market.

The fact that spot Bitcoin ETFs launch ahead of the market and lead the market trend has become one of the most significant structural features of the crypto market in the past two years, a pattern that has been repeatedly verified by multiple market cycles.

Take this round of rebound as an example—the full-blown outbreak in the crypto market began on August 19, while Bitcoin spot ETFs had already shown a “determined” and continuous net buying trend several days earlier, accurately timing the breakout point of this round of market activity.

Data shows that last week (ending August 21), US Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs saw a combined net inflow of $2.6 billion, marking the highest weekly record since October 2025. Specifically, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net inflow of approximately $1.9 billion, with weekly trading volume surging from $6.9 billion the previous week to $22.1 billion, an increase of 219%, and total net assets rising from $76.6 billion to $96.1 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs also performed strongly, with net inflows of $697.2 million last week, the highest since the week of October 3, 2025; weekly trading volume increased by 259.4% from $1.9 billion to $6.9 billion.

Both types of ETFs recorded their largest weekly net inflows since 2026. In contrast, the two types of ETFs saw a combined net outflow of $392 million the previous week.

The simultaneous surge in trading volume for both types of ETFs not only confirms the massive return of institutional funds but also further solidifies the market position of spot ETFs as a "leading indicator" of this bull market.

Rule 3: A violent surge in Bitcoin almost inevitably leads to a comprehensive rise in the entire crypto sector—from mainstream coins to altcoins, and then to trending meme coins, forming a clear chain of capital rotation and transmission.

This round of market activity has once again validated this ironclad rule: Bitcoin broke through first, followed by a gradual outflow of funds, with Ethereum, high-quality altcoins, and trending meme coins taking turns leading the charge, resulting in a stepped increase in price.

The data speaks for itself—Ethereum rose nearly 30% in a single week, ENA surged nearly 100%, and "Niu Lai," a new meme coin in the BNB Chain ecosystem, saw a 30.3% increase on August 21, with its market capitalization briefly reaching $70 million. From large-cap blue-chip stocks to small-cap volatile stocks, none were left out of this rebound feast.

Bitcoin was the trigger, but what truly ignites market sentiment are always the altcoins and meme assets with even more astonishing multiples. The gradient distribution of price increases precisely outlines the complete path of this round of capital inflow.

Crypto bull market pullback: Who rebounds the most?

In this rebound, Bitcoin was the first to ignite the market, but the real explosive power came from the relay between mainstream and altcoins.

Ethereum started last week around $1,900, reaching a high of $2,546, a weekly gain of 29.8%, significantly outperforming Bitcoin's 22.9%. The ETH/BTC exchange rate rebounded to around 0.031, and its market capitalization returned to above $280 billion.

Ethereum's greater resilience is driven not only by macro liquidity and short squeezes, but also by three unique factors:

First, there was a significant inflow of funds into the Ethereum spot ETF. Last week, the Ethereum spot ETF saw a net inflow of approximately $697 million, marking the strongest week since October 2025.

Second, the supply from exchanges continued to tighten. Data shows that the amount of Ethereum held by exchanges decreased from approximately 7.7 million in early June to approximately 6.54 million in mid-August, a drop of about 15%. At the same time, more than 42 million ETH have been staked, and the circulating supply available for trading has continued to shrink, significantly amplifying the effect of buying pressure driving up prices.

Third, there are positive developments at the regulatory level. On August 18, the SEC released a draft of new rules for cryptocurrency token sales, which the market viewed as a positive signal toward clear rules for token issuance, further boosting market risk appetite for the Ethereum ecosystem.

Bitcoin rose 22%, and Ethereum rose nearly 30%—that's already astonishing enough. But in the world of altcoins, there are even more outrageous contenders.

According to statistics from multiple data platforms, among the top 50 altcoins by market capitalization last week (as of August 23), the five coins with the highest gains were: ENA, PUMP, Stacks, Trump, and Zcash.

1. ENA (Ethena). Weekly gain of 100.75%, the top performer in the entire market.

ENA topped the weekly cryptocurrency gainers list with a 100.75% increase. This once again confirms the market's general perception of it—ENA has always been one of the most resilient assets during market rebounds, consistently delivering above-average gains whenever the market recovers.

The surge was driven by two key catalysts: first, Coinbase announced a strategic partnership with Ethena, planning to offer products based on the USDe stablecoin to over 100 million users and investing in Ethena for the first time by purchasing ENA tokens on the open market; second, FalconX launched a $1 billion secured warehousing facility, deploying USDe's underlying assets into institutional lending, significantly expanding the protocol's business scope.

However, it should be noted that ENA's current price is still about 89.2% lower than its all-time high—although the increase is significant, it is still a long way from truly recovering its losses.

Second: PUMP (Pump.fun). Weekly increase of 88-99%, a victory for the meme launchpad.

PUMP rose between 88% and 99% last week, pushing its market capitalization above $2 billion.

Pump.fun, as the most active Meme coin launch platform in the Solana ecosystem, directly benefits from the current Meme coin craze—a constant stream of new tokens on the platform, coupled with surging trading volume, has directly driven up the price of the platform token, PUMP. However, PUMP is still approximately 39.7% lower than its all-time high.

3. STX (Stacks). Weekly increase of 82-94%, reigniting the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative.

STX rose by approximately 82% to 94% last week, making it the best-performing asset in the Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem.

STX's rise is closely related to the resurgence of the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative. With Bitcoin's price breaking $77,000, market attention has returned to Bitcoin scaling solutions, directly benefiting Stacks, one of the most mature BTC Layer 2 projects. However, STX's current price is still about 94% below its all-time high, making it the coin furthest from its peak among the top five performers.

4. Trump (Official Trump). Weekly increase of 79-91%, a rebound in political memes.

Trump's stock price rose between 79% and 91% last week. As a political meme coin themed around Trump, its rebound resonated with news of Trump's push for crypto legislation.

This Meme coin, themed after former US President Donald Trump, had been under pressure due to criticism from US lawmakers and Nansen data revealing that nearly one million investors had lost approximately $3.8 billion. However, this rebound is more of a sentiment recovery after an oversold condition than an improvement in fundamentals—Trump's current price is still about 96.4% below its all-time high.

5. ZEC (Zcash). Weekly increase of 75%, hitting a new all-time high.

Zcash rose 75.15% last week, trading at $851 and hitting a new all-time high during the week.

ZEC is the only one among the top five to reach a new all-time high, and the only asset to fully recover its historical losses during the rally. As a long-established privacy coin, Zcash's strong performance reflects a characteristic of this rebound—established projects are also attracting capital, and it's not only new concepts that can lead the market. In an environment of rising macroeconomic uncertainty, the privacy sector often gains an additional safe-haven premium.

Meme Coin: The Hottest Trend in Emotions, with the Highest Volatility

In addition, the Meme coin sector has once again proven its status as the king of resilience in a bull market. The newly emerging Meme coin "Niu Lai" in the BNB Chain ecosystem saw a single-day increase of 30.3% on August 21, with its market value once reaching $70 million; Book of Meme (BOME) on Solana saw a weekly increase of 95.57%, also becoming one of the best-performing assets among this Meme coin.

From Ethereum's steady lead to AAVE's triumphant return, and then to the explosive growth of ENA and Meme coins—this rebound clearly outlines a path of capital transmission: Bitcoin sets the stage, mainstream coins take center stage, and altcoins and Meme coins take center stage. The gradient distribution of price increases is a complete reflection of the market sentiment shifting from caution to euphoria.

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