Bitcoin’s price can’t decide where to go, and struggling to gain momentum despite a slight increase.
New whales in the bay
The primary factor behind Bitcoin’s price stagnation is the aggressive selling by new whales.
CryptoQuant Head of Research, Julio Moreno highlighted on X that these new large-scale investors sold $688 million worth of Bitcoin earlier this week.
This marks the largest single-day sell-off since May 2021. Moreno thinks that while new whales are selling, old whales are holding their positions.
This downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price, counteracting some of the bullish sentiments from other market factors.
BRN analyst Valentin Fournier advises investors to monitor the U.S. initial jobless claims data, which is set to be released in this week.
Fournier noted that Bitcoin has been building momentum, showing upward pressure over the last three days after rebounding from Monday’s market slump.
The price seems failing to breach the $58,000 mark yesterday, but Bitcoin appears to be on an upward trajectory in longer timeframe.
The initial jobless claims report could alleviate economic recession fears and help sustain this positive momentum.
Macroeconomics matters
As investors await the Federal Reserve’s next Federal Open Markets Committee meeting on September, attention is also on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Core Price Index report, due on next week.
Fournier suggests this report will provide insights into American job creation consistency and the Federal Reserve’s leeway to prevent a hard economic landing.
The Bitcoin spot ETF market has seen varied results. Total net inflows reached $45.14 million, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust leading with $52.52 million.
But the overall assets under management have dropped below the $50 billion mark. This could means that institutional investors may be cautious, possibly using ETFs simply as a hedging tool rather than making outright bullish investments.
Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies are feel the heat
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency also underperformed compared to Bitcoin, dropping 3.5% to trade at $2,420 at the time of writing.
Ethereum saw net outflows of $23.68 million from its U.S. spot ETFs, so the sentiment is bearish.
XRP surged 16% following the settlement between Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Another big gainer, Toncoin saw nearly a 6% increase after Binance announced its listing.
