Bitcoin (BTC) Rebounds 3% as Summer Slowdown Fuels Market Manipulation

Kaiko's latest research highlights a 3% rebound in Bitcoin last week, marking a rare move against its recent downtrend.

Kaiko's latest research reveals a 3% rebound in Bitcoin last week, a rare move against its recent downtrend. This stands in contrast to traditional equities, where the S&P 500 hovered close to correction territory, highlighting diverging trends between digital assets and legacy markets.

(Image Credit: Wolf Richter, Real Clear Investment)

Summer slowdown for crypto?

-> Q3 delivers Bitcoin's lightest volumes historically. But 2025 could flip the script:

🟡 Fed decision

🟠 Trump tariff deadline (Jul 9)

📊 Landmark U.S. crypto bills due before August recess

💡 Options market bracing for action with heavy June 27 flow at 48k.

The report highlights that Bitcoin's recovery, which pushed the coin to $31,000, was a significant development. It follows a period of selling pressure that saw Bitcoin decline from its 2024 highs of $43,000 to lows of $25,000 in May.

"Bitcoin recovered slightly last week, but it remains in a downtrend from its 2024 highs and faces resistance at the 200-week moving average, currently around $32,000. A break above this level could pave the way for a continuation of the recent rebound, potentially targeting the 1.236 Fibonacci retracement of the 2021-2022 bear market at $38,000," the report notes.

The analysis also mentions that Bitcoin options traders are anticipating a move above $30,000, setting the stage for a potential rally in the latter half of 2024.

"The options market is pricing in a higher probability of Bitcoin trading above $30,000 by June 27, with a substantial amount of options expiring on that day, indicating significant outsized activity in the derivatives market," the researchers add.

The report further elaborates on the altcoin segment, which is facing pressure as DeFi risks grow.

"Altcoins struggled to keep pace with Bitcoin, impacted by persistent market manipulation, regulatory uncertainty, and Ethereum's lackluster performance. Kaiko's analysis highlights instances of price manipulation in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, showcasing how low-liquidity environments can be susceptible to such activity, similar to high-frequency trading in traditional markets."

The report details a sandwich attack on Uniswap V3, where a user swapping USDC to USDT lost $215,000. Moreover, spoofing behavior on Hyperliquid last week triggered an intentional $200 million ETH liquidation, leading to a $4 million loss for the vault and new margin requirements for leveraged traders.

These events demonstrate that while blockchain data aids in detection, DeFi remains largely unregulated, which may keep institutional investors wary.

In other developments, traders are keeping an eye on the upcoming Pectra upgrade for Ethereum and how it could influence the token's price.

"Despite the upcoming Pectra upgrade, the largest E.R.I.P. rollout yet, and positive long-term fundamentals, traders remain skeptical. Indeed, historical patterns suggest that Ethereum upgrades often lead to 'sell the news' events, and current implied volatility data implies hedging around the launch."

The analysis reveals that Ethereum's performance has been lackluster, with the token down nearly 40% year-to-date and underperforming both Bitcoin (-14%) and Solana (-35%). As a result, the ETH/BTC ratio now sits at a multi-year low of 0.023.

"The pessimism towards Ethereum seems to be outweighing the optimism towards Bitcoin, despite the upcoming Pectra upgrade and long-term fundamentals remaining intact. Ethereum continues to dominate tokenized asset issuance and host over $110 billion in stablecoins-its highest since 2020."

Finally, the report highlights that Total Crypto Market Cap Excluding BTC and ETH (Total3) is showing signs of consolidation.

"A Fibonacci retracement from the recent swing low of ~$784 billion to the high of ~$966 billion reveals price rejecting near the 0.618 level ($897 billion), a strong resistance area. The 0.5 ($875 billion) and 0.382 ($854 billion) zones are now acting as support and potential re-accumulation ranges."

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers around 55, just above neutral. It previously hit a local high near 65, indicating bullish strength but also hinting at short-term exhaustion. A move above 60–65 could signal renewed momentum and a breakout toward $966 billion and potentially the 1.618 Fib extension at $1.08 trillion.

The MACD remains slightly bullish with a