Bitcoin (BTC) saw continued weakness into Feb. 23 as consolidation accompanied a brief slowdown in institutional investment.
Bitcoin ETFs bounce back from day of outflows
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action struggling around $51,000.
Bulls remained caught in a narrow trading zone, in place for more than a week, as concerns surfaced over inflows to the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
These slowed considerably in recent days, with Feb. 21 even seeing a net outflow of some $36 million, per data uploaded to X (formerly Twitter) by sources including BitMEX Research.
Same data in BTC terms.
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) February 22, 2024
694 BTC net outflow on 21 Feb 2024 pic.twitter.com/mpqoo44VA2
Feb. 22 saw stronger activity — net inflows of just over a quarter of a million dollars, even accounting for outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
“Normality resumed a $251M inflow into the Bitcoin ETFs,” James Van Straten, research and data analyst at crypto insights firm CryptoSlate, responded.
Continuing on the pace of buying from the ETF operators, Thomas Fahrer, CEO of crypto-focused reviews portal Apollo, predicted that the largest of them, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), would in the future change BTC supply dynamics.
“98% of all the #Bitcoin in existence already costs >100K if you tried to buy it,” he argued alongside a chart of IBIT holdings.
“Remember that the current price is just the marginal trade. Blackrock is going to test this theory, so we’ll find out soon enough.”
As of Feb. 23, IBIT held 124,535 BTC ($6.35 billion), per data from Apollo’s own ETF tracker.
BTC price nears “trend inflection point”
Focusing on low-timeframe BTC price analysis, meanwhile, popular trader Skew captured the mood among seasoned market observers.
Related: Bitcoin pre-halving ‘pullback’ calls for $45K BTC price support retest
The uptrend, he concluded, remained intact, but important support levels were now coming back into play.
These were the 88-period and 100-period exponential moving averages (EMAs) on the four-hour chart at $50,017 and $49,654, respectively, along with the 18-period EMA on the daily chart at $49,645.
“Currently price trades around range low & 4H 55EMA which typically is a near term trend inflection point, meaning momentum picks up soon,” part of his latest X analysis read.
“Buyers & Sellers likely to fight here for control.”
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
