Key Insights:
Bitcoin failed to achieve a new ATH despite three attempts since March 2024.
Crypto analyst Markus Thielen explains the role of stablecoins in restricting Bitcoin's price.
Wallets with $10 million plus stablecoins have reduced after Bitcoin Halving.
There has also been a slowdown in the stablecoin minting rates.
Miner sales too have been putting pressure on Bitcoin, triggering selloffs at higher levels.
Despite huge ETF inflows, bullish sentiments, reduced supply and high demand for Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency has repeatedly failed to create a new all time high (ATH).
The last ATH was created on 14th March this year when Bitcoin reached $73.7k. After that, it came under massive selling whenever the price reached those levels.
The price attempted to cross $73.7k at least three times since March 2024.
The first time, Bitcoin recovered its price after touching a low of $58k. The subsequent recovery rally took the price to $71.8k but failed to sustain at those levels. Heavy selling was witnessed and by the end of 8 April, and BTC's price had cooled to $71.5k.
The second attempt to cross the ATH was on 21 May. Bolstered by increasing ETF inflows, Bitcoin reached $72k. However, soon after that its price came back to $69k and by the end of the day Bitcoin closed at $70k.
The third and the latest attempt to cross $73.7k was made on 8 June when Bitcoin's price again fell back after touching the resistance of $72k. This time though several factors were in favor, the profit booking at higher levels clamped down the price. The price fell as low as $68.5k on the same day but managed to end the day higher at $69.2k.
At press time Bitcoin exchanged hands at the price of $69.9k.
Top crypto analyst Markus Thielen explained that stablecoins played a negative role in clamping Bitcoin's price. Often in crypto markets, it has been witnessed that traders use stablecoins to enter and exit trades.
Hence, if the stablecoin volume remains high in a market, it has higher chance of going upwards as more liquidity awaits a buying opportunity. Similarly, low stablecoin volumes were followed by bearish markets as traders exited their positions by exchanging crypto with stablecoins.
Thielen also explained the relationship between gross stablecoin holdings and Bitcoin's price. He observed that after the Bitcoin Halving event on 20 April, there was a significant drop in the number of wallets holding more than $10 million in stablecoins.
There was also a notable slowdown in the minting of new stablecoins. As the majority of the new money enters the crypto market through stablecoins, the low minting rates have also affected the bullish trends in Bitcoin.
Another factor that has kept Bitcoin's price pinned down is the miner sales. Before the Bitcoin Halving miners held at least $5 billion worth of BTC which they intended to sell after the halving.
The primary reason why miners wanted to sell BTC was that due to the reduced block rewards (6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block) after Bitcoin Halving, it was getting difficult for them to manage operations at a reduced reward. Also, the miners had been sitting on their Bitcoin stash for a while in hopes of a bullish market.
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