On Tuesday, Bitcoin remained under pressure—more than 24 hours after news broke that Strategy had sold 1,690 bitcoins to fund a buyback of its preferred shares, causing a sharp drop in the cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin initially seemed to have strong support just below the $64,000 level, market data shows it lost momentum after breaking through that level.
This trend continued from Monday evening until 4:00 AM Eastern Standard Time on August 11, when a price surge around 8:15 AM pushed prices above the $64,400 mark. However, the rise was short-lived: over the next three hours, the cryptocurrency lost more than $1,000, plunging to a daily low of $63,394. As of 2:30 PM EST, Bitcoin was trading just above $63,400, down 0.7% from 24 hours earlier.
The cryptocurrency's price action over the past 24 hours again showed that the value of liquidated long positions exceeded that of short positions. Coinglass data indicates that out of $39 million liquidated in the market, $34.4 million came from long positions, and just under $5 million from short positions.
While corporate sell-offs and Strategy's approval to liquidate a $5 billion position pressured Bitcoin, this impact appears to have been partially offset by a weekly inflow of $854 million into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Bitfinex analysts in their latest Bitfinex Alpha report, these inflows correspond to the absorption of approximately 13,300 bitcoins—more than four times the number of bitcoins (around 3,150) issued by the network in the same period.
Bitfinex analysts emphasized that the reversal from the peak outflow in June, when ETFs lost nearly 65,800 bitcoins, to strong demand over six weeks represents the most notable shift in spot flow trends this year. Driven by active accumulation in BlackRock's IBIT ETF and Fidelity's FBTC ETF, ETF demand has revived against a backdrop of broader macroeconomic support, including falling oil prices and softening U.S. labor market data, which led to reduced expectations for a September interest rate hike.
However, Bitfinex warned that a sustained breakout continues to be restrained by significant supply in the upper price range. An estimated 1.79 million bitcoins are on-chain with an average cost basis between $62,000 and $65,000. Coupled with ongoing asset liquidation by corporate treasuries and high long-term Treasury yields, analysts expect Bitcoin to remain within the current trading range until ETF inflows begin to consistently outpace seller pressure and softer inflation data leads to a decrease in long-term bond yields.
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