Nothing Goes Up in a Straight Line, Not Even Bitcoin

Nothing goes up in a straight line, not even Bitcoin.

After a blistering 27% rebound in April, Bitcoin has bounced around the $94,000 price mark this week. Now, signs are flashing red of a possible price pullback for the number one cryptocurrency.

“The current market outlook suggests that Bitcoin price may face more stiff resistance moving forward, while common indicators suggest that BTC may be due for a pullback from the recent rally,” Innokenty Isers, CEO of crypto exchange Paybis, told DL News.

There’s a cocktail of bearish metrics swirling through the market.

Data from Glassnode shows Bitcoin’s spot volume delta has suddenly flipped negative this week.

This metric is essentially a scoreboard of buyer versus seller volume, and a negative shift is a bearish indicator. It means selling volume has outweighed that of buyers.

“Aggressive sellers are dominating and spot demand is weakening – potential signs of profit taking, buyer exhaustion, or a reversal,” said Glassnode analysts.

Meanwhile, shorts are piling up on Bitcoin perpetuals – futures contracts with no expiry dates.

Data from Coinglass shows Bitcoin’s long–short ratio has skewed sharply bearish in the last week, indicating a higher volume of short positions compared to longs.

For other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana, the reverse is the case, and even XRP is showing mounting longs.

Market analysts say these signals indicate coordinated hedging amid a significant shift in trader sentiment.

Still, market experts say don’t expect the sky to fall for Bitcoin. While profit taking might dampen Bitcoin’s price in the near term, observers say the positive long-term thesis for Bitcoin remains intact.

Indeed, inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have exploded in the last week amid returning institutional appetite after a tepid first quarter.

Geoff Kendrick, the head of digital assets research at UK bank Standard Chartered, said investors are rotating from gold to Bitcoin.

This comes after gold soared to an all-time high of $3,300 per ounce in April.

“Bitcoin gains are catching up to gold, and I think Bitcoin is a better hedge than gold against strategic asset reallocation out of the US,” Kendric said.

Bitcoin’s recovery in April came after global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war eased, with a 90-day pause. The previous market turmoil saw Bitcoin plummet to $74,500

But Arthur Hayes, the chief investment officer at Maelstrom, said Bitcoin won’t buckle if Trump’s future actions trigger another market-wide panic.

Instead, Hayes said Bitcoin’s slump to $74,500 in early April marked its price bottom and that it could go as high as $200,000 this year.

This week, Bernstein analysts said it’s “hard to be bearish” about Bitcoin amid signs it could rise as high as $120,000 before the end of the second quarter.

Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.