After a four-day sprint, Bitcoin cooled off in Asia, with prices near $85,500 early in Singapore after touching $87,381 in the US. Even with the dip, it is back to late‑January levels and sits about $10,000 above last week's trough. It remains well below its October record of $126,000 and also under the 2026 mid‑January peak above $97,000.
Crypto shrugged off two potential drags last week: the failure of a landmark US bill that would have clarified industry rules and the Federal Reserve's first interest rate increase in more than three years. What did help: on Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission authorized US trading in blockchain‑based versions of securities, lifting related tokens. Broader equities drew support from cheaper oil and optimism ahead of a planned meeting linking US President Donald Trump with China's Xi Jinping. Countering that boost, crude remains close to $100 a barrel while US Treasury yields, though easing, are still elevated.
Forced flows mattered. Over the past day, more than $1 billion in long and short positions were liquidated across digital assets, with roughly $840 million of that coming from shorts, per Coinglass. On the options side, open interest on Deribit leans bullish, showing nearly 320,000 calls against just over 169,000 puts.
"It looks like mechanics before conviction. "$84,000 is the level that matters.
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Bulls also pointed to solid spot US Bitcoin ETF inflows late last week, and to Michael Saylor's Strategy Inc. - the biggest corporate owner of Bitcoin - buying the coin after a three-week hiatus. Even so, retail interest has been hard to re‑ignite as artificial intelligence stocks and other AI‑themed trades compete for speculative capital.
Momentum is steering the tape, with a short squeeze and options skew providing fuel. Traders are eyeing $84,000 as a near‑term line in the sand, while prices still trail the October record and the 2026 mid‑January high. Translation a friend would use: the setup looks better, but if broader risk appetite stumbles, crypto can feel it fast.
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