At the start of this week, Bitcoin began a confirmed decline below the $90,000 level. This downward trend, which began after its latest historic high, appears to have caused institutional investors to lose confidence in the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin faces a significant decline in institutional confidence
At the start of this week, Bitcoin began a confirmed return below the $90,000 level. A downward trend that began after its last historic high appears to be causing institutional investors to lose confidence.
Bitcoin: towards a disengagement of institutional investors?
The various bullish cycles of Bitcoin often involve the arrival of new investors who are motivated and convinced of its future performance. It was the arrival of investors from traditional finance and institutional structures that propelled its price above $100,000.
However, November looks set to be a bearish month for the BTC price, which has just fallen back below the $90,000 level for the first time since April, following a 7% decline over the last 24 hours and a 15% decline over the past week.
At the same time, the crypto ETP market — exchange-traded financial products, including ETFs — has seen massive outflows of more than $2 billion over the past week. According to Bloomberg analysts, this is due to a loss of confidence among institutional buyers, such as “ETF allocators and corporate treasuries.”
Indeed, these high-ranking investors “have been the backbone of Bitcoin’s legitimacy and price throughout the year,” repositioning BTC as a leading diversification asset, offering protection against inflation, currency depreciation, and political chaos.
But this narrative—still fragile—is unraveling again, exposing the market to something quieter but equally destabilizing: disengagement.
Bloomberg
BTC underperforming gold and tech stocks
The main cause of this loss of conviction can be explained by Bitcoin’s disappointing performance, particularly compared to assets such as gold and tech stocks. And with good reason: BTC is now showing a negative return of -1% over the past year, while Nvidia and gold (XAU) are up nearly 40% and more than 50% respectively over the same period.
This situation has led to a discreet but effective withdrawal of these institutional players in recent months, the main consequence of which is a rewriting of the expectations that had previously been formulated about BTC. At the same time, Citigroup analysts note a significant decline in the number of whales—those holding more than 1,000 BTC—which is supposed to indicate “that people have lost their excitement.”
Analysts at the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange platform caution against this interpretation, in order to avoid “an overly alarmist interpretation of recent data.” They explain that “whales are not selling out of fear, but are gradually taking profits in an environment of weaker ETF demand.”
These periods of rebalancing typically reset positions and volatility before a new bullish period, once flows and liquidity conditions improve.
Bitfinex
Note: according to recent data from Glassnode, this trend appears to have reversed in recent days.
Last chance to buy Bitcoin below $90,000
Meanwhile, long-term players in the cryptocurrency sector remain confident in the face of yet another decline in BTC, which is just the latest in a long list.
This is the case, for example, with Cameron Winklevoss, one of the twins behind the Gemini platform on the X network. This will also be the conclusion of this article:
This is the last time you’ll be able to buy Bitcoin below $90,000!
Cameron Winklevoss
