FTSE 100 Live: Blue-chips head lower as JD Sports sounds the earnings alarm

FTSE 100 down 26 points to 10,717 JD Sports sounds earnings alarm Asia shares bounce 9.40am: What next for Bitcoin After the short squeeze, what next for Bitcoin? Well, traders are betting the cryptocurrency has further to run this month, but few see a return to six figures, according to prediction market Polymarket. The market, which asks what price Bitcoin will hit in August and resolves on 1 September, put the odds of the token reaching $100,000 at just 1%. The chance of touching $80,000 was priced at 5%, while $77,500 carried a 10% probability and $75,000 sat at 21%. The most closely watched threshold, $72,500, was given a 46% chance, up 29 percentage points on the day, reflecting a sharp shift in sentiment. The wager on $67,500 firmed to 59%, up nine points. The repricing followed a sharp move higher. Bitcoin jumped nearly 8% on Wednesday to around $69,500, its highest level since early June and its steepest single-day climb since March. The surge forced more than $1 billion in short-position liquidations in about an hour, the biggest wipeout of bearish bets in records dating back to 2021. Traders had spent weeks pushing the token into the low $60,000s, leaving those betting on further declines badly exposed when the reversal came. The rally drew fuel from a White House meeting with crypto executives and a Treasury move to expand bond buybacks, which lifted Ether and crypto-related equities alongside Bitcoin. Whales added roughly $2.9 billion in Bitcoin over 60 days, Bloomberg reported, offering a genuine tailwind beyond the forced buying. Caution remains, at this stage, the watchword. Bitcoin was still trading below its 200-day moving average near $69,900, a level charti...