CoinDesk 20 Index: 3,433.47 +3.11%
Bitcoin (BTC): $98,230.02 +0.33%
Ether (ETH): $3,483 +4.89%
S&P 500: 5,969.34 +0.35%
Gold: $2,685.55 -1.13%
Nikkei 225: 38,780.14 +1.3%

Bitcoin traded above $98,000 having dropped below $96,000 on Sunday. A pullback had been expected as traders took profits after last week's surge to nearly $100,000. XRP and DOGE led the drop, both losing more than 5%, while ETH, SOL and ADA fell between 2%-5%. They all also pared losses, posting gains in the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 Index, which offers a broad measure of the digital asset market, climbed 1.7% thanks to some healthy increases among smaller altcoins like AVAX and LINK.

Crypto-tracked futures took a beating with over $500 million in liquidations on both longs and shorts amid the volatility. Over $366 million in longs and $127 million in shorts evaporated, Coinglass data shows. Traders, however, don’t appear to consider the pullback concerning. “It's clear that Bitcoin has been leading the market, a key indicator that much of the demand is driven by institutions buying ETFs," Jeff Mei, COO at crypto exchange BTSE, told CoinDesk. “We also believe that institutions will start buying into the Ethereum ETFs soon and, hopefully, the Solana ones once they're approved. With the stock market making steady gains and the Trump transition team meeting with a number of crypto executives to discuss pro-crypto policies, it looks promising that this rally will continue into 2025,” Mei added.

Brokers Bernstein and Canaccord raised their price targets for MicroStrategy, while maintaining their positive ratings for the stock. Bernstein raised its target to $600 from $290, while Canaccord has increased it to $510 from $300. Bernstein said it expects MicroStrategy to own 4% of the world's bitcoin supply by 2033. It currently has 1.7%. Michael Saylor's company said last month that it planned to buy $42 billion of bitcoin over the next three years. "We believe bitcoin is in a structural bull market with conducive regulation and U.S. government support, institutional adoption and favorable macro," analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.

As bitcoin (BTC) nears the $100,000 milestone — a clear sign of strength — the reality is that it's actually quite vulnerable to negative news.

That's according to the "order book skew ratio," which shows that buyers have surprisingly pulled back their firepower as prices near six digits. The ratio measures the number of people wanting to sell, or the ask side, relative to those on the buy, or bid, side.

The three-day moving average of the 1% skew, which measures the ask-bid imbalance within 1% of the mid-price, is now elevated, approaching levels seen only three times since 2022, according to data tracked by cryptocurrency prime broker FalconX.

It's a sign the bullish momentum that brought prices to near $100,000 from $68,000 since the U.S. election early this month is not being replenished by new buying interest, leaving sellers in a more dominant position. As such, the slightest negative news could lead to a notable price correction.

"As we near $100K, the skew approaches levels seen only three times since 2022. While this doesn't threaten the medium-term rally, it suggests that the struggle to break above the $100K level could be intense," FalconX said in the newsletter.

- Omkar Godbole