Demanding environment

Bitcoin fought its way above $95,000 — in a truly demanding environment.

Behemoths, like Strategy and BlackRock, are buying in bulk. At the same time, a major custodian has reportedly shifted a nearly $400M chunk of some client's coins into cold storage, reflecting a long-haul type of mentality. On-chain metrics, like blossoming cherry trees or robins on the nest, remind us spring is in the air.

Which is not to chirp about the total crypto market moving higher because it didn't — the global cap, as of early this morning, totaled $3.09T, down 1.9% in the past 24 hours — although BTC fund flows deserve a closer look.

The full line-up of U.S.-listed BTC-related ETFs attracted nearly $600M worth of inflows on Monday to extend a six-day streak. BlackRock's IBIT was the largest recipient, hoovering up $970M. This marked the category-killing fund's second-largest day of inflows, ever.

The impressive feat, however, was countered in the industry by $200M exiting ARKB, Ark's BTC vehicle.

Still, it's worth considering that IBIT yesterday was in the market buying nearly a billion dollars worth of BTC pretty much around the same time that Michael-Saylor-led Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, was doing the same, providing “structural support” for price appreciation, according to analysts, per Cointelegraph.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Republican-controlled legislature there passed a measure that could allow the state to invest billions of dollars in crypto. However, as Bitcoinist pointed out, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has not yet indicated her position; her veto obviously could quash the bill.

Bitcoin spent early Tuesday battling to stay $95K. So far, the king of all cryptos is holding its own, staying sideways overnight.

Solana's bid to climb above $150? It's not going so well but the day is young. SOL fell 2% in 24 hours. The sixth-largest digital asset sat crouched close to $148 but is still up 5.5% over the past week. That was as of 8:45 a.m. (EST), per CoinGecko data.

Ethereum, the second-largest coin, is actually green on the day (+0.9%) and green on the week (+12%). Over the past month, though, ETH has remained in the red, scantily so (-0.2%). One month ago right now, ETH was $1,833. Today, it's $1,828.

It's been more than a month since BTC ETFs experienced a week-long inflow streak. Bulls are marking the occasion by turning their attention to soon-to-be-released employment and GDP data, looking for "cues on positioning," CoinDesk said.

If it seems like BTC is caught in a jar and there's nothing to see, that's because, well, it's partly true. And still, at the same time, there's a gripping sub-plot playing out just below the surface.

Cointelegraph's William Suberg, citing Keith Alan, co-founder of Material Indicators, drew attention to the ongoing battle between BTC and $93.5K, or the point at which the biggest crypto lurked back on Jan. 1 to start off 2025. The yearly open matters, or so it seems, as BTC's momentary dip below $93K the other day proved cause for consternation, revealing room for downside volatility.

Then again, BTC this very moment could be setting up for a fresh re-test of support.

Let's check out BTC's "profitable supply" metric. It has just climbed above 85%, signaling "strong accumulation from momentum buyers with minimal profit-taking," Cointelegraph said.

As of yesterday, approximately 87% of all held coins sat in profit, according to CryptoQuant.

Historically, as Cointelegraph pointed out, the BTC supply metric’s climb into the 85%–90% range reflects a kind of "speculative euphoria," versus just plain "healthy optimism."