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Bitcoin price recovery could be capped at $90K — Here’s why

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After consecutive drawdowns of 17.39% and 2.3% in February and March, Bitcoin’s (BTC) Q2 is shaping up nicely, with a return of 3.77% in April. While fresh yearly lows were formed at $74,500, BTC is currently closer to $90,000 than its new range bottom. 

Bitcoin 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin’s higher time frame (HTF) market structure has achieved its first breakout of 2025, fueling optimism among bulls for significant upward momentum. However, the following factors could limit BTC’s gains over the next two weeks, likely capping its price at around $90,000.

Related: Can 3-month Bitcoin RSI highs counter bearish BTC price ‘seasonality?’

Bitcoin needs spot volume, not just leverage-driven

Cointelegraph identified a cooldown period in the futures market as the BTC-USDT futures leverage ratio dropped by 50%. De-leveraging in the futures market is a positive development over the long term, but derivatives traders have taken control of the market at the time as well.

Bitcoin cumulative net take volume. Source: X.com

Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. pointed out that Bitcoin’s cumulative net taker volume spiked to $800 million on April 11, hinting at a surge in aggressive buying. BTC price also jumped from $78,000 to $85,000 within three days, confirming previous historical patterns where high net take volume triggers price rallies. 

Likewise, Maartunn, a community analyst at CryptoQuant, confirmed that the current rally is a “leverage-driven pump.” The discrepancy arises because retail or spot traders are still not as relevant.

Bitcoin 30-day apparent demand. Source: CryptoQuant

As illustrated in the chart, Bitcoin apparent demand is on a recovery path, but it is not net positive yet. Historically, 30-day apparent demand can move sideways for a prolonged period after BTC reaches a local bottom, leading to a sideways chop for the crypto.

Thus, it is less likely that Bitcoin could breach $90,000 in the first attempt after dropping close to 20% until there is collective buying pressure from both spot and futures markets.

Large liquidation clusters between $80-$90K may bait traders

With futures traders positioning in either direction, data from CoinGlass highlighted significant cumulative long and short liquidation leverage between $80,000 and $90,000. Taking $85,100 at the base price, total cumulative short positions at risk of liquidation are at $6.5 billion if BTC price hits $90,035.

Bitcoin exchange liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass

On the other hand, $4.86 billion in long orders will be wiped out if BTC drops to $80,071. While liquidation clusters do not determine directional bias, they can create long or short squeezes, baiting traders on either side of respective trades.

With such high capital at risk under $90,000, it is possible that Bitcoin may target each cluster before moving toward the dominant side.

Related: Bitcoin traders target $90K as apparent tariff exemptions ease US Treasury yields

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Coin Market

OKX fires back at Tron's Justin Sun over mysterious 'freeze notice'

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OKX founder and CEO Star Xu has publicly defended the crypto exchange after Tron founder Justin Sun accused it of failing to act on a law enforcement request to freeze stolen funds following a recent hack of Tron’s official X account.

“OKX also has consumers protection policy according to law, we can’t freeze a customer’s funds according to your personal X post or an oral communication. I think you should understand it as the CEO of HTX,” Xu said in an X post.

OKX says there is no communication in the spam box, either

Xu said that the crypto exchange had not received any related correspondence through OKX’s official channels. “Our LE cooperation team just checked the email, including the spam box; we haven’t received any request related with this case,” Xu said.

Source: Star Xu

In what is now an unavailable X post, but was screenshotted by Xu, Sun had earlier claimed that OKX has not responded to a “freeze notice” sent to its official email address from a “relevant law enforcement agency.” Sun said that he had no other way to contact OKX’s compliance department.

“These stolen funds do not belong to me; I’m acting to protect the community,” Sun said. On May 3, Tron DAO told its 1.7 million X followers that its account had been compromised. Tron explained that during the breach, an unauthorized party posted a malicious crypto token contract address, sent direct messages, and followed unfamiliar accounts.

“If you received a DM from our account on May 2, please delete it and consider it the work of the attacker.”

In response to Sun’s claims of inaction, Xu publicly called on him to provide a screenshot showing when and where the law enforcement request was made.

The Tron incident is one of several recent security breaches involving high-profile crypto accounts on X.

Related: Over 14,500 Tron addresses at risk of silent hijacking

Kaito AI, an artificial intelligence-powered platform that aggregates crypto data to provide market analysis for users, and its founder, Yu Hu, were the victims of an X social media hack on March 15. The hackers opened up a short position on KAITO tokens before posting that the Kaito wallets were compromised and advised users that their funds were not safe.

Just a few weeks before, on Feb. 26, The Pump.fun X account was compromised to promote a fake governance token called “PUMP” and other fraudulent coins.

Meanwhile, the X account of UK member of Parliament and Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, was hacked on April 15 to promote a scam crypto token.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

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Warren Buffett to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO by year's end

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Warren Buffett, the CEO of publicly traded investment company Berkshire Hathaway, announced at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that he will step down by the end of 2025, and his chosen successor will take over as CEO, pending approval from Berkshire’s board of directors.

According to CNBC, Buffett reiterated that Greg Abel, the company’s vice chairman of non-insurance operations, who was previously named by Buffett as his successor, will take over. The Berkshire founder announced:

“The time has arrived when Greg should become the Chief executive officer of the company at year-end, and I want to spring that on the directors effectively and give that as my recommendation.”

Buffett added that he would stay at the company in an advisory role “but the final word would be what Greg decided,” the CEO said. Buffett’s decision to step down as CEO comes at a time when Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on cash reserves of roughly $348 billion.

Buffett speaking at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder conference. Source: CNBC

The legendary stock investor has repeatedly called the growing US national debt unsustainable and issued warnings on the increasingly unstable macroeconomic environment that has taken a toll on the stock market.

Related: Galaxy Digital plans Nasdaq listing as crypto stocks post strong rebound

Berkshire Hathaway outperforms S&P but is outclassed by Bitcoin

Despite being renowned for consistently returning roughly double the average performance of the S&P 500 to investors throughout his career, Buffet has failed to outperform Bitcoin (BTC) and gold.

Although Berkshire Hathaway’s class A common stock carries a price tag of over $809,000, and a market cap of over $1 trillion at the time of this writing, shares of the company have massively underperformed against Bitcoin in percentage terms since 2015.

Bitcoin has returned gains of over 781% to investors since 2020, while Berkshire Hathaway only returned approximately 150% over the same period.

Bitcoin’s price performance appears in magenta and has outperformed Berkshire Hathaway’s stock in percentage gains. Source: TradingView

Buffett has long been critical of BTC, arguing that the decentralized, supply-capped, digital currency has no value and likened it to a scam on several occasions.

The Berkshire founder and his business partner Charlie Munger have repeatedly said that Bitcoin does not even qualify as an investment and should be avoided by traders.

Magazine: Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

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Bitcoin miners should pay costs in depreciating currency — Ledn exec

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Bitcoin (BTC) mining firms should hold their mined Bitcoin and use it as collateral for fiat-denominated loans to pay operating expenses instead of selling BTC and losing the upside of an asset that miners expect to surge in price, according to John Glover, chief investment officer at Bitcoin lending firm Ledn.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Glover said that holding onto the BTC carries several benefits including, price appreciation, tax deferment, and the potential to make extra revenue by lending out BTC held in corporate treasuries. The executive added:

“If you are mining, you are generating all this Bitcoin. You understand the thesis behind Bitcoin and why it is likely going to continue to appreciate in the future. You do not want to sell any of your Bitcoin.”

This debt-based approach is similar to companies like Strategy, which issue corporate debt and equity to finance Bitcoin acquisition and profit from the diverging fundamentals of BTC and the fiat currencies the corporate capital raises are denominated in.

BTC mining hashprice, a metric used to gauge miner profitability, has collapsed as ever-increasing computing resources are deployed to secure the network. Source: Hashrate Index

Bitcoin-backed loans could be a valuable lifeline for miners struggling in the highly competitive industry, which is facing increased pressure due to the ongoing trade tensions brought on by the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policies and macroeconomic uncertainty.

Related: Riot Platforms secures $100M ‘Bitcoin-backed’ loan from Coinbase

Trade war places even more pressure on beleaguered mining industry

The Bitcoin mining industry is characterized by high competition and capital costs that increase over time as more powerful computing resources are used to mine blocks and secure the network.

US President Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs have cast a cloud over the already competitive sector, raising fears that import duties will raise the cost of mining equipment, like application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), to unsustainable levels.

Mining firms collectively sold over 40% of their mined supply produced in March 2025 amid the heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and fears that the ongoing trade tensions will cause price increases across the board.

According to TheMinerMag, this 40% sell-off marked the reversal of a trend that began post-halving, in April 2024, and represented the highest monthly BTC liquidation among miners since October 2024.

Magazine: Korea to lift corporate crypto ban, beware crypto mining HDs: Asia Express

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