Weeks of sideways trading have crushed volatility, leaving Wednesday’s inflation report as the next potential catalyst, analysts said.
Bitcoin BTC$63,664.08 barely budged on Tuesday, extending a five-week standstill as steady demand from exchange-traded funds ran into selling from miners and corporate holders.
BTC slipped to around $63,500, down 0.6% over the past 24 hours. More importantly, the largest cryptocurrency remained trapped in the roughly $62,000-$66,000 range that has contained prices for much of the summer.
“Bitcoin's recent price action has largely been driven by steady ETF inflows being offset by OTC selling from miners and Strategy (MSTR),” Paul Howard, senior director at trading firm Wincent, said.
Crypto trading volumes have fallen to their lowest levels in three years, he added, leaving little firepower to push BTC decisively in either direction.
Bitfinex analysts also pointed to the competing flows. ETFs and bitcoin treasury companies have been two major sources of price-insensitive demand, they said, but corporate treasury activity has recently provided offsetting selling pressure. That helps explain why BTC gained only about 2% last week despite strong ETF inflows and better performance across broader risk markets.
Wednesday's U.S. inflation report could finally give traders a reason to break the stalemate.
