Author: Joe Zhou, Foresight News
The cryptocurrency market, which had been quiet for almost a full year, suddenly exploded last week.
Bitcoin surged violently from around $62,800 at the start of the week, reaching a high of $79,500 intraday on August 21st. The maximum weekly gain exceeded 26%, setting a record for the largest single-week gain since March 2023. Voices proclaiming "the bull is back" are echoing throughout the market.
A signal doesn't sound only once, but the real test lies in whether we can accurately identify its nature. An even more pertinent question is: In this rebound, which assets rose with solid reason, and which ones were merely swept along by the tide? The answers hold the key to the next phase.
What Market Principles Does This Bull Return Validate Once More?
Every extreme market movement is not random noise but a stress test of the market structure. This rebound once again confirms several clear principles.
Principle 1: Directional turning points in the crypto market in the short-to-medium term have become highly dependent on swings in the US policy cycle.
Looking back over the past four years, several major inflection points in the cryptocurrency market—whether it was the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, the shift between the Fed's interest rate hike and cut cycles, or this latest US Treasury buyback operation—have almost invariably resonated with the rhythm of US fiscal and regulatory policies. Market pricing power is gradually shifting from crypto-native on-chain leverage cycles to macro liquidity and regulatory expectations.
This time is no exception. Attributing it to news flow, the core drivers of the rebound can be summarized as two points:
First, the long-term bond buyback policy triggered a reversal in macro liquidity expectations. On August 19th, US Treasury Secretary Besant announced an increase in the single-operation buyback size for 10-year to 30-year long-term Treasury bonds from $2 billion to at least $4 billion, in response to the previous surge in long-end yields and the severe sell-off in long-term bonds. The market quickly interpreted this as: The US government is using accommodative operations to ease its own borrowing cost pressure → The dollar is pressured and weakens → Funds flow into alternative value-storage assets like gold and Bitcoin. Due to Bitcoin's high-risk, high-return asset attributes, its gains were the most prominent among similar assets.
Second, Trump's push for crypto legislation catalyzed a recovery in risk appetite. Around the same time, Trump met with executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, and other crypto industry companies at the White House, publicly urging Congress to pass the "Clarity for Digital Assets Act" (CLARITY Act) as soon as possible 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 in investor risk appetite.
An additional point worth noting: The SEC also proposed a new rule draft for public crypto token sales on August 18th, which the market viewed as a positive signal towards clearer token issuance regulations. The market dubbed it a "Legitimate ICO 2.0." This implies that the old, wild ICO model is gradually "evolving," and the new ICOs will operate within a fresh regulatory framework featuring caps on issuance amounts, information disclosure requirements, and exit mechanisms.
Principle 2: Spot Bitcoin ETFs have become market bellwethers and continue to lead the entire crypto market.
The phenomenon of spot Bitcoin ETFs moving ahead of the broader market and leading the trend has become one of the most significant structural features of the crypto market in recent years, a pattern repeatedly validated across multiple market cycles.
Taking this rebound as an example—the market-wide explosion began on August 19th, yet spot Bitcoin ETFs had already shown a "steadfast" pattern of sustained net inflows days earlier, precisely timing the start of this rally.
Data-wise, last week (the week ending August 21st), US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs collectively recorded net inflows of $2.6 billion, marking the highest single-week record since October 2025. Among them, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of approximately $1.9 billion, with weekly trading volume soaring from $6.9 billion the previous week to $22.1 billion, a 219% increase. Total assets under management rose from $76.6 billion to $96.1 billion.
Spot Ethereum ETFs also performed strongly, with net inflows of $697.2 million last week, the highest since the week of October 3rd, 2025. Weekly trading volume surged from $1.9 billion to $6.9 billion, a staggering 259.4% increase.
Both types of ETFs recorded their largest single-week net inflows since 2026. In contrast, the combined net outflow for both types of ETFs the previous week was $392 million.
The simultaneous surge in volume for both types of ETFs not only verifies the large-scale return of institutional capital but also further solidifies the market status of spot ETFs as "leading indicators" for this bull cycle.
Principle 3: Bitcoin's violent surge almost inevitably triggers a comprehensive rally across the entire crypto sector—from major altcoins to smaller altcoins, and then to hot Meme coins, forming a clear chain of fund rotation and transmission.
This round of market action once again validates this iron law: Bitcoin leads the breakout, followed by capital spilling over progressively, with Ethereum, quality altcoins, and hot Meme coins taking the baton in succession, resulting in a stepwise amplification of gains.
Data provides the most compelling evidence—Ethereum gained nearly 30% for the week, ENA skyrocketed by almost 100%, and the new BNB Chain ecosystem Meme coin "Bull Is Back" surged 30.3% on August 21st alone, with its market cap once touching $70 million. From large-cap blue chips to small-cap volatile assets, none missed out on this rebound feast.
Bitcoin is the trigger, but what truly boils market sentiment is always those alt and Meme assets with astonishing multiples. The gradient distribution of gains precisely outlines the complete path of this round of capital flow-back.
Crypto Bull Is Back, Which Assets Bounced the Hardest?
In this rebound, Bitcoin lit the fuse first, but the real explosive elasticity was concentrated in the relay race of major altcoins and other altcoins.
Ethereum started last week from around $1,900, reaching a high of $2,546, with a weekly gain of up to 29.8%, clearly outperforming Bitcoin's 22.9%. The ETH/BTC ratio recovered to around 0.031, and its market cap returned above $280 billion.
Behind Ethereum's stronger elasticity, besides the common drivers of macro liquidity and short-squeeze dynamics, three unique factors are resonating:
First, massive inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs. Last week, spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of approximately $697 million, the strongest week since October 2025.
Second, a continued tightening of exchange supply. Data shows that Ethereum held on exchanges dropped from around 7.7 million ETH in early June to about 6.54 million ETH in mid-August, a decrease of approximately 15%. Meanwhile, over 42 million ETH have been staked, further shrinking the tradable circulating supply, which significantly amplifies the price impact of buying pressure.
Third, regulatory tailwinds emerged. The SEC's proposal of a new rule draft for public crypto token sales on August 18th was seen as a positive signal toward clearer token issuance regulations, further boosting risk appetite for the Ethereum ecosystem.
Bitcoin up 22%, Ethereum up nearly 30%—that's impressive enough. But in the world of altcoins, there are even crazier performers.
According to statistics from multiple data platforms, among the top 50 altcoins by market cap last week (as of August 23rd), the five coins with the highest gains were: ENA, PUMP, Stacks, Trump, Zcash.
One: ENA (Ethena). Weekly Gain: 100.75%, Market-Wide Champion
ENA topped last week's cryptocurrency gainers list with a 100.75% weekly surge. This again confirms the market's general perception—ENA has consistently been one of the most elastic assets during market rebounds, always delivering gains far above average whenever the market recovers.
The core catalysts for the surge were two-fold: 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 the underlying assets of USDe into institutional lending, significantly expanding the protocol's business scope.
However, it's important to note that ENA's current price is still about 89.2% below its all-time high—despite the sharp rally, it has a long way to go before truly recovering its losses.
Two: PUMP (Pump.fun). Weekly Gain: 88-99%, Victory for the Meme Launchpad
PUMP rose between 88% and 99% last week, with its market cap exceeding $2 billion.
As the most active Meme coin launch platform on the Solana ecosystem, Pump.fun directly benefited from the recent Meme coin frenzy—the constant emergence of new tokens on the platform and surging transaction volumes directly pushed up the price of its native token, PUMP. Similarly, PUMP remains about 39.7% below its all-time high.
Three: STX (Stacks). Weekly Gain: 82-94%, The Bitcoin Ecosystem Narrative Reignites
STX gained approximately 82% to 94% last week, standing out as the top-performing asset within the Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem.
STX's rise is closely tied to the reignition of the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative. As Bitcoin price broke through $77,000, market attention towards Bitcoin scaling solutions increased again. Stacks, as one of the most mature BTC Layer 2 projects, directly benefited. However, STX's current price is still about 94% below its all-time high, making it the asset among the top five furthest from its peak.
Four: TRUMP (Official Trump). Weekly Gain: 79-91%, The Political Meme's Rebound
TRUMP rose between 79% and 91% last week. As a political Meme coin themed around Donald Trump, its rebound resonated with the news of Trump pushing for crypto legislation.
This Meme coin themed after the former US President had been under pressure previously due to criticism from US lawmakers and Nansen data revealing that nearly a million investors had incurred cumulative losses of around $3.8 billion. However, this rebound is more of an emotional recovery from oversold conditions rather than an improvement in fundamentals—TRUMP's current price is still about 96.4% below its all-time high.
Five: ZEC (Zcash). Weekly Gain: 75%, Reaching a New All-Time High
Zcash rose 75.15% last week, trading at $851, and set a new all-time high during the week.
ZEC is the only asset among the top five that reached a new all-time high and the only one that has completely recovered its historical losses during this surge. As an established privacy coin, Zcash's strong performance reflects a characteristic of this rebound—established projects are also favored by capital, and not only new concepts can lead the rally. The privacy sector often garners an additional safe-haven premium in environments of rising macro uncertainty.
Meme Coins: At the Whim of Sentiment, Maximum Elasticity
Beyond these, the Meme coin sector once again proved its status as the king of elasticity during bull markets. The new BNB Chain ecosystem Meme coin "Bull Is Back" surged 30.3% on August 21st alone, with its market cap once touching $70 million. Book of Meme (BOME) on Solana recorded a weekly gain of 95.57%, also becoming one of the best-performing assets among Meme coins this time.
From Ethereum's steady lead to AAVE's return to form, to the multiple-fold explosions of ENA and Meme coins—this rebound clearly delineates a capital transmission path: Bitcoin sets the stage, major altcoins take the main act, and altcoins and Meme coins put on the final performance. The gradient distribution of gains is precisely the complete picture of market sentiment shifting from caution to euphoria.
