This time the bull market returned, what market principles were once again verified?

Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News

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

Bitcoin violently surged from around $62,800 at the beginning of the week, reaching a peak of $79,500 during the trading session on August 21, with a maximum weekly increase of over 26%, setting the record for the largest single-week increase since March 2023. Voices claiming the "bull is back" filled the market.

Signals won't sound just once, but the real test lies in whether we can accurately identify their nature. What’s even more worth questioning is: in this rebound, which assets rose rationally and which simply followed the trend? Answers hold the key to the next stage.

This time the bull market returned, what market principles were once again verified?

Every extreme market condition is not just random noise but a stress test of the market structure. This rebound has once again confirmed several clear principles.

Principle One: Short-term directional turns in the crypto market are highly dependent on the swings of U.S. policy cycles.

Looking back over the past four years, several major turning points in the cryptocurrency market—whether it was the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the switching cycles of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes and cuts, or this recent U.S. Treasury bond repurchase operation—have almost all resonated synchronously with the rhythm of U.S. fiscal and regulatory policies. Market pricing power is gradually yielding from the native on-chain leverage cycles of cryptocurrencies to macro liquidity and regulatory expectations.

This time is no exception. Attributable to the news, the core driving force behind the rebound can be summarized in two points:

First, long bond repurchase policies triggered a reversal in macro liquidity expectations. On August 19, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the one-time repurchase scale of 10-year to 30-year long-term government bonds would increase from $2 billion to at least $4 billion to address the previous surge in long-end yields and the severe sell-off of long-term bonds. The market quickly interpreted this as: the U.S. government is using easing operations to alleviate its borrowing cost pressure → the dollar is pressured and weakens → funds shift towards alternative value storage assets like gold and Bitcoin. Due to Bitcoin's nature as a highly elastic risk asset, its price increase was the most prominent among similar assets.

Second, Trump's push for crypto legislation catalyzed the rebound in risk appetite. Almost simultaneously, Trump met with executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, and other crypto industry leaders at the White House, publicly urging Congress to swiftly pass the "Digital Asset Market Clarity Act" to clarify the jurisdictional boundaries of 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.

It is worth noting that on August 18, the SEC also proposed a draft of new rules for public cryptocurrency token sales, which the market viewed as a positive signal towards clearer regulations for token issuance. The market referred to this as "legal version ICO 2.0." This means that the previous model of rugged ICOs is gradually "evolving," and the new ICOs will adopt a completely new regulatory framework with a cap on the amount, information disclosure requirements, and exit mechanisms.

Principle Two: Bitcoin spot ETFs have become the market's weather vane and continue to lead the entire crypto market.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have launched ahead of the market and led the trend, becoming one of the most significant structural features of the crypto market in the past two years, a principle repeatedly verified across multiple market cycles.

Taking this round of rebound as an example—the comprehensive explosion of the crypto market began on August 19, while Bitcoin spot ETFs had already shown a "determined" continued net buy trend days before, pinpointing the ignition point for this round of market action.

From the data, last week (as of the week ending August 21), U.S. Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs together recorded a net inflow of $2.6 billion, setting the highest single-week record since October 2025. Among them, the Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net inflow of about $1.9 billion, with weekly trading volume skyrocketing 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.

The Ethereum spot ETF also performed strongly, with a net inflow of $697.2 million last week, the highest since the week of October 3, 2025; weekly trading volume increased from $1.9 billion to $6.9 billion, with an increase of 259.4%.

Both types of ETFs recorded their largest single-week net inflow since 2026. In contrast, the previous week saw a combined net outflow of $392 million from both ETFs.

The simultaneous increase in both ETFs not only verified the significant return of institutional funds but also further established the market position of spot ETFs as “leading indicators” of this bull market.

Principle Three: Bitcoin’s violent surge almost inevitably leads to a comprehensive rally across the entire crypto sector—from mainstream coins to altcoins to popular meme coins, forming a clear chain of capital rotation.

This round of market action once again validated this iron rule: Bitcoin breaks out first, followed by a gradual overflow of funds to Ethereum, quality altcoins, and popular meme coins, with an amplified step-like increase in prices.

The data is the most powerful proof—Ethereum’s weekly increase was nearly 30%, ENA skyrocketed by nearly 100%, the newly popular meme coin "Bull Come" in the BNB Chain ecosystem surged by 30.3% in a single day on August 21, with its market cap briefly reaching $70 million. From large-cap blue chips to small-cap elastic varieties, none missed this rebound feast.

Bitcoin is the ignition point, but what truly stirs market sentiment are always those altcoins and meme assets with even more astonishing multiples. The gradient distribution of increases vividly depicts the complete path of this fund flow.

Crypto bull market, which asset rebounded the most?

In this round of rebound, Bitcoin ignited first, but the real elastic explosion concentrated on the relay between mainstream coins and altcoins.

Ethereum started last week from around $1,900, peaking at $2,546, with a massive weekly increase of 29.8%, significantly outperforming Bitcoin's 22.9%. The ETH/BTC exchange rate rose back to around 0.031, and its market cap returned above $280 billion.

The stronger elasticity of Ethereum, in addition to the common driving forces of macro liquidity and short squeeze, also has three unique factors resonating:

One is the large inflow of funds into the Ethereum spot ETF. Last week, the net inflow into the Ethereum spot ETF was approximately $697 million, the strongest week since October 2025.

Two is the continued tightening of exchange supply. Data shows that the amount of Ethereum held on exchanges decreased from about 7.7 million in early June to about 6.54 million in mid-August, a drop of about 15%. Meanwhile, over 42 million ETH have been staked, leading to a continuous reduction in the circulating supply available for trading, significantly amplifying the effect of buying pressure on price increase.

Three is the favorable news from the regulatory level. On August 18, the SEC proposed a draft of new rules for public cryptocurrency token sales, which the market regarded as a positive signal towards clearer regulations for token issuance, further boosting market risk appetite towards the Ethereum ecosystem.

Bitcoin rose by 22%, Ethereum by nearly 30%—that alone is remarkable. But in the world of altcoins, there are even crazier contenders.

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

One: ENA (Ethena). Weekly increase of 100.75%, market champion

ENA topped last week's cryptocurrency gain leaderboard with a weekly increase of 100.75%. This once again confirms the market’s general perception—ENA has always been one of the most elastic assets during market rebounds, consistently delivering returns far exceeding the average level whenever the market warms up.

The core catalysts for the surge are twofold: one is Coinbase announcing a strategic partnership with Ethena, planning to provide products based on the USDe stablecoin to over 100 million users, and for the first time investing in Ethena by purchasing ENA tokens on the open market; the other is FalconX launching a $1 billion collateralized storage facility, deploying the underlying assets of USDe into institutional loans, significantly expanding the protocol's business boundaries.

However, it’s worth noting that ENA’s current price is still about 89.2% lower than its historical peak—though the increase is substantial, it still has a long way to go to truly recover lost ground.

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

PUMP’s weekly increase ranged between 88% to 99%, with a market cap exceeding $2 billion.

Pump.fun, as the most active meme coin launch platform on the Solana ecosystem, directly benefited from this round of meme coin craze—new tokens emerge continuously on the platform, and the surge in trading volume directly drove up the price of the platform token PUMP. However, PUMP is still about 39.7% lower than its historical peak.

Three: STX (Stacks). Weekly increase of 82-94%, the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative reignited

STX's weekly increase was about 82% to 94%, making it the most outstanding asset in the Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem.

The rise of STX is closely related to the reinvigoration of the Bitcoin ecosystem narrative. With Bitcoin's price exceeding $77,000, market attention towards Bitcoin ecosystem expansion solutions has resurfaced, and Stacks, as one of the most mature BTC Layer 2 projects, has directly benefited. However, STX’s price is still approximately 94% lower than its historical high, making it the furthest from the peak among the top five.

Four: TRUMP (Official Trump). Weekly increase of 79-91%, the rebound of political meme

TRUMP's weekly increase ranged between 79% to 91%. As a political meme coin themed around Trump, its rebound resonated with news of Trump promoting crypto legislation.

This meme coin themed around former U.S. President Trump had previously been under pressure due to criticism from U.S. lawmakers and data from Nansen revealing cumulative losses of nearly $3.8 billion for nearly a million investors. However, this round of rebound is more of an emotional recovery after a steep decline rather than a fundamental improvement—TRUMP's current price is still about 96.4% lower than its historical peak.

Five: ZEC (Zcash). Weekly increase of 75%, reaching historical highs

Zcash surged by 75.15% last week, with a trading price reaching $851, and set a historical high during the week.

ZEC is the only asset among the top five that reached a historical high and is the only one that fully recovered its historical decline during the rise. As an established privacy coin, Zcash's strong performance reflects a characteristic of this round of rebound—established projects are also receiving capital attention, not just new concepts can lead the way. The privacy track tends to gain additional safe-haven premiums in an environment of rising macro uncertainty.

Meme coins: The windfall of sentiment, maximum elasticity

In addition, the meme coin sector once again proved its position as the king of elasticity in a bull market. The newly popular meme coin "Bull Come" in the BNB Chain ecosystem surged by 30.3% in a single day on August 21, with its market cap briefly reaching $7 million; on Solana, the Book of Meme (BOME) achieved a weekly increase of a whopping 95.57%, making it one of the best-performing assets in this round of meme coins.

From the stable lead of Ethereum to the triumphant return of AAVE, to the exponential bursts of ENA and meme coins—this round of rebound clearly delineates a path of fund transfer: Bitcoin sets the stage, mainstream coins perform, and altcoins and meme coins take to the stage. The gradient distribution of increases vividly reflects the complete portrayal of market sentiment shifting from cautious to fervent.