Bitcoin bounces back after weekend slump defying expectations

Bitcoin’s weekend nosedive had traders muttering about a “dead cat,” but the market clearly missed the memo. After sliding to $106,189 on Sunday, BTC refused to stay buried. Monday’s tape was cautious, Tuesday started ugly, and then, out of nowhere, buyers charged in and dragged the price to $113,650 by nightfall: a 7% comeback in less than two days.

Graph showing Bitcoin’s price from Oct. 13 to Oct. 21, 2025 (Source: CryptoSlate BTC)

Ethereum followed almost tick for tick, bouncing from $3,830 to $4,103 and matching Bitcoin’s recovery pace.

Graph showing Ethereum’s price from Oct. 13 to Oct. 21, 2025 (Source: CryptoSlate ETH)

What really happened was a good old-fashioned liquidation reset. The previous week’s tariff chaos wiped out nearly $20 billion in over-leveraged positions, leaving the market fragile and spooked. When Bitcoin poked below $108k on Tuesday morning, another wave of forced selling (roughly $528 million) cleared the decks in 24 hours. Once that air pocket was gone, spot buyers had free rein to push the price higher, forcing shorts to scramble for cover.

Data from Binance perfectly illustrates this. Sunday’s drop cleaned out the weak hands. Monday tried to retest but couldn’t break lower, especially on ETH, which barely closed red. Tuesday opened soft, dipped just below the prior day’s low, and then roared upward: the opposite of what a “dead cat” should do.

Instead of rolling over, both BTC and ETH printed new window highs, breaking through the resistance at $110,000.

Now, the market is watching whether BTC can keep $111,000-$112,000 as its intraday floor. If it slips below, all eyes turn straight back to $108,000.

If it manages to hold the line, $117,000 becomes the next magnet. For ETH, $4,000 is the level to beat: the psychological round number separating weakness from strength.

Tuesday’s rally doesn’t erase last week’s damage, but it does rewrite the short-term story. The cat that was supposed to die on second impact just proved it has nine lives.