Bitcoin Back Above US$79,000: Is BTC a Buy Right Now?
Bitcoin traded at US$79,087.06 early Monday afternoon, up 1.61% from Sunday’s daily close of US$77,830.29 (crypto trades through the weekend), and the honest answer to “is bitcoin a buy” at this level has less to do with the chart than with what the new Federal Reserve chair does over the next few months. Ether was up an almost identical 1.09% at US$2,469.24. For Canadian holders, that puts bitcoin at C$108,943.66 and ether at C$3,422.68.
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Both were green on a day when North American equities were not. The S&P/TSX Composite was down 1.02% at 36,181.10, the S&P 500 down 0.39% at 7,681.82 and the Nasdaq down 0.31% at 26,320.44, while gold added 0.23% to US$4,488.40. Our full read of the equity session is in today’s TSX recap.
The speech that set this level
On Friday, August 28, Kevin Warsh delivered his first speech as Fed chair, titled “In Our Time”, at the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium. In the Federal Reserve’s published text, to paraphrase rather than quote, he said inflation is still too high, described the 2% goal as firm and fixed, and suggested the Fed may need to raise rates in the coming months. He also pulled back from detailed forward guidance. Markets raised their bets on a hike, and short-term Treasury yields rose.
Bitcoin slipped below US$80,000 that day after the remarks, according to Bloomberg. Earlier in the same week, on Tuesday August 25, it had briefly touched about US$81,000, per Yahoo Finance coverage. From roughly US$81,000 to Sunday’s close of US$77,830.29 is a slide of about 4% in under a week, with the sharpest leg landing on one speech.
That sequence is the whole argument, in both directions.
The bull case: institutions were buying, and buying size
The week before Jackson Hole produced the strongest exchange-traded fund demand of the year. US spot bitcoin ETFs took in roughly US$1.9 billion during the week of August 17-21, their biggest week of 2026, while spot ether ETFs added about US$700 million, a year-to-date high. Combined, that is close to US$2.6 billion in a single week, according to industry flow trackers.
The single-day detail is sharper still. On August 19, bitcoin ETFs drew US$517 million and ether ETFs US$189 million, the largest daily bitcoin inflow since early May and the largest for ether since October 2025, per CoinDesk’s live flow coverage.
Add today’s tape to that. Bitcoin held the high US$70,000s through Friday’s knock, and Monday’s bounce is happening on a session when both the TSX and the S&P 500 are red.
The bear case, which deserves equal billing
Here is the uncomfortable version of the same week. Record ETF demand went in, and the price still broke below US$80,000 on one speech anyway. If US$2.6 billion of fresh institutional money could not hold the level against a hawkish chair, the flow story is a support, not a shield.
Bitcoin and ether produce no cash flow. That makes them sensitive to the rate environment they are priced against, and the new Fed chair has just said inflation is too high and that rates may need to go up. The sensitivity visible last Friday does not switch off if a hike actually lands. It works the same way, on a bigger input.
Breadth is thin under Monday’s bounce. Over the 24 hours to Sunday night, XRP was down 2.84%, solana down 2.47%, cardano down 5.22% and dogecoin down 4.40%. The weekend leaked lower, and the rebound is a bitcoin and ether story rather than a market-wide one.
There is also a structural change worth naming. Warsh has stepped back from detailed forward guidance. Less guidance means more of each decision arrives as new information on the day, and for any asset priced off rate expectations, that points to more volatility per meeting, not less.
What it means for Canadian investors specifically
Canada’s rate story is running the other way, and it is not the one that moves your crypto. The Bank of Canada’s overnight rate sits at 2.25%, held there since October 30, 2025, and the last move was a cut from 2.50%. A decision lands this Wednesday, September 2 at 9:45 a.m. ET, and Montreal Exchange CORRA futures imply a hold. We set out what to watch in our Bank of Canada decision preview.
So the practical split for a Canadian holder is this: watch the Fed for what your crypto does, and watch the Bank of Canada for what your mortgage does, not the other way round.
Two more frictions are local. Your position is quoted in Canadian dollars while the headlines are in US dollars, so the move you feel rarely matches the move you read about. And every disposal is a taxable event the CRA expects you to have tracked, which is not a job you can backfill later. Our guide to calculating your crypto adjusted cost base for the CRA covers the method.
So, is bitcoin a buy right now?
Our view: this is a “size it honestly” moment rather than a table-pounding buy. Both facts from last week are true at once. Institutions bought record amounts, and the price still broke on a hawkish speech. A position built gradually into a small, defined allocation can survive a Fed that follows through on higher rates. A lump-sum chase of the ETF-inflow story has far less margin for error if Warsh means what he said.
If you are trading the range instead of allocating, be clear about which calendar matters. The next catalysts here are US inflation data and the Fed, not Wednesday’s Bank of Canada decision. And nobody, including us, can tell you where the price goes from here.
If you are building a long-term position on a schedule, the account you use matters as much as the timing. Open a Questrade account if you want a Canadian brokerage that supports self-directed investing in TSX-listed stocks and ETFs.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Crypto asset prices as of 2:50 p.m. ET and equity index data as of 2:00 p.m. ET, August 31, 2026, in U.S. dollars unless marked C$. Bank of Canada rate from the Bank of Canada Valet series; decision expectations from Montreal Exchange CORRA futures.
