Bitcoin Recovers From Dip Below $58,000 as Institutional Buying Slows Down

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price dipped below $58,000 in early morning hours, as institutional investors appear to have temporarily halted their buying spree. At the time of writing, BTC is trading for $59,332.20.

The dip comes as analysts noted a cessation in the transfer of Tether (USDT) from Tether Treasury to exchanges over the past two days. The halt in USDT transfers to exchanges suggests institutional investors are pausing their crypto purchases, likely contributing to the current price dip. The movement was tracked using blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.

The cryptocurrency market as a whole experienced a broad sell-off, with Ethereum (ETH) dropping 4.6% to $2,570. Other major cryptocurrencies were not spared, with Solana (SOL) falling 8% to $145, Binance Coin (BNB) declining 5.5%, and TON (TON) sliding about 6% in morning trading.

Despite the current downturn, data from CoinShares suggests that investors view the price weakness as a buying opportunity.

“Digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $176 million as investors saw recent price weakness as a buying opportunity,” wrote Coinshares Head of Research James Butterfill.

The total assets under management (AUM) of digital investment products has received to $85 billion, after a correction had previously wiped off over $20 billion. This recovery is primarily due to the rebound in cryptocurrency prices rather than new capital inflows.

While there were inflows totaling $176 million as investors saw the price weakness as a buying opportunity, this amount alone doesn’t account for the $10 billion recovery in AuM. The majority of the recovery is attributed to the appreciation of the existing assets held in these investment products as cryptocurrency prices rebounded.

Interestingly, Ethereum has emerged as the primary beneficiary of the recent market correction.

“Ethereum has benefited the most from the recent market correction, attracting US$155m in inflows last week,” Butterfill noted. “This brings its year-to-date inflows to $862 million, the highest since 2021, largely driven by the recent launch of US spot-based ETFs.”

While Bitcoin initially faced outflows at the beginning of last week, it managed to attract significant inflows, resulting in a net weekly inflow of $13 million.

Notably, short Bitcoin ETPs saw their assets under management reach their lowest level since the start of the year as investors withdrew $16 million. That’s the biggest weekly outflow for the products since May 2023 and represents 23% of their AUM.

However, the outlook for Bitcoin remains uncertain.

Offering a more cautious perspective, digital assets research firm 10x Research said that it appears unlikely that Bitcoin will break out to new all-time highs soon, and the risk could be more to the downside.

The report suggests that the trading range for Bitcoin may have shifted lower.

“Although Bitcoin successfully tested the January Bitcoin ETF high with its Monday, August 5 drop to $49,100, we suspect the trading range has shifted lower towards the $50,000 to $60,000 range as Bitcoin ETF buying has run dry,”wrote 10X Research CEO Markus Thielen.

The current market dynamics are further complicated by broader economic and political factors.

“After Bitcoin closed the CME gap (between the Friday, August 2 close and the Monday, August 5 open), the weakness observed on Monday, August 12, can be linked to Harris’s presidential odds rising to 51%, compared to Trump’s 46%, according to betting markets,” Thielen wrote.

It added that the late summer of U.S. election years often sees market corrections as uncertainty about the election outcome increases.