Bitcoin (BTC) Bulls Retreat as Short-Term Profit-Taking Intensifies

Bitcoin bulls recently pulled back after staging a strong comeback since the second week of April. Interestingly, the resurgence of sell pressure highlights the convergence of factors underscoring bearish conditions.

For starters, Bitcoin did become overbought according to the RSI towards the end of April. But that’s not all. It entered into a Fibonacci retracement zone in the last week of April, raising the probability of a pullback.

However, price did manage to push above the Fibonacci retracement zone, paving the way for short liquidations. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency ushered in the weekend with a 2.52% retracement since Friday.

Bitcoin Bears Make a Comeback as Short-Term Profit-Taking Intensifies

Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin spot flows switched in favor of outflows in the last 2 days. Over $810 million worth of spot outflows were recorded in the last 2 days, confirming BTC’s pivot. This outcome was further confirmation of bearish momentum building up driven by short term profit-taking.

Among the noteworthy observations in the last few days include Bitcoin exchange reserves leveling out. However, it did not indicate a large uptick.

At the same time, exchange inflows stood at 6,277 BTC at the time of observation, while exchange outflows were lower at 5,448 BTC. A clear sign that exchange inflows were notably higher than outflows, hence confirming more sell pressure than bullish momentum.

The BTC exchange flows were in alignment with spot flow data. Further investigation revealed that miner reserves also pivoted, meaning a sell pressure from the miner cohort also aided the bears.

Miners introduce new BTC supply into the market when they sell their holdings. Interestingly, miner reserves revealed that the same category offloaded a substantial amount of BTC in April. This is likely due to the pressures they faced to maintain the cost of mining operations as BTC prices faced extreme volatility and uncertainty.

Bitcoin miner reserves pivoted at the end of April, signaling the return of optimism. However, roughly $2.79 million worth of BTC flowed out of miner reserves in the last 2 days.

The outflows may reflect the current state of the market. While BTC has recovered substantially, the current market conditions suggested that a cloud of economic uncertainty still hovered above the hopes of a strong recovery. This may be in line with recent comments from BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, further fueled that uncertainty.

Is the U.S Still Planning to Buy Bitcoin Any Time Soon?

Hayes has been a vocal Bitcoin proponent in recent times but he recently cast doubt on the prospects of the U.S adding more Bitcoin to its stockpile. According to the BitMEX founder, the probability of the U.S adding heavily buying more coins remains low especially due to the high national debt.

He also noted that the asset still has a cultural image that does not exactly the kind of asset class that the U.S government has been linked to. In other words, Hayes did not expect more money printing to support BTC purchases.

President Trump’s pro-Bitcoin comments triggered high expectations that the U.S would soon start accumulating BTC. However, the current U.S administration has been heavily occupied with the realities of the economic challenges that emerged due to tariffs.

Bitcoin related matters have taken a back seat now that the U.S administration is focusing on more pressing matters. As a consequence, the expectations of robust liquidity inflows from the U.S government have cooled down.

While that may be the situation, it is still worth noting that over 25 U.S states have filings aimed at allowing exposure to BTC through public funds. In other words, the ball is still rolling in favor of aggressive institutional inflows further down the road.