Bitcoin (BTCUSD) Stalls Below $100,000 as Profit-Taking Slows Rally

The "bitcoin $100,000" price milestone has proven elusive. Some analysts are are blaming skittish investors taking profits as companies continue to purchase the crypto asset.

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) prices soared to an all-time high of over $99,500 on Friday, leaving many to anticipate the next milestone: BTC at $100,000.

However, the world's largest cryptocurrency was trading at around $92,000 on Monday evening, still far from the six-figure mark.

So what happened? And what's next for bitcoin prices?

Bitcoin's rally gained steam after Donald Trump's electoral victory, with optimism regarding a more crypto-friendly administration and Congress that could pave the way for regulatory clarity the crypto-industry has been seeking.

That rally has slowed recently, though. Some analysts say that is likely a result of profit-taking by relatively new investors into the asset, with longer-term investors continuing to hold on to their bitcoin.

Most of the selling "is coming from 2024 buyers who bought above 56k," Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said in an X post Sunday, citing Galaxy's research. "Normal profit taking.

Galaxy is planning to launch a bitcoin ETF, pending regulatory approval.

Bitcoin analyst James Check said those who purchased bitcoin around $68,000 six weeks ago are responsible for a large amount of the selling pressure this month.

Strong selling was also seen in bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, as the category had its third-largest day of outflows on record at $435.3 million, according to Farside Investors.

This follows the large inflows that were seen in these products since Election Day. (BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw $267.8 million of inflows on Monday, despite the net outflows for the category as a whole.)

Bitcoin ETFs hold bitcoin and they needed to purchase it as more investors poured money into these products. That's why spot bitcoin ETFs were partially responsible for the cryptocurrency's rise this year.

While bitcoin prices are still up year to date, the recent weakness comes at a time when more companies are purchasing bitcoin.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced the purchase of another $5.4 billion worth of bitcoin on Monday morning. Companies such as Marathon Digital (MARA), Semler Scientific (SMLR) and Rumble (RUM) have also committed to purchasing bitcoin.

If that trend continues it could bolster bitcoin prices, according to Coinbase Research.

"We think that these corporate inflows represent an increasingly important source of capital inflow into the space as corporate purchase plans that we think may be relatively more price inelastic," Coinbase researchers wrote in recent commentary. "This could contribute to continued market momentum in the near term."