Bitcoin held steady near $92,000 on Friday, unable to extend Thursday’s recovery after another unsuccessful attempt to clear the $93,000 threshold overnight. The market’s recent tone remains largely unchanged — choppy, directionless, and confined to a narrow band that has repeatedly capped momentum on both sides.
Trading over the past two weeks has formed a familiar pattern: sellers consistently reject rallies in the mid-$93,000s, while buyers remain active around $91,000, creating a stalemate that has prevented any decisive trend from taking shape. On the one-month timeframe, bitcoin continues to track a descending pattern that started after early November’s highs, with the most recent bounce producing yet another lower high. Prices briefly tapped $93,500 before rolling over again, keeping the corrective structure intact.
Market depth and liquidity remain thin, and intraday rebounds are failing to gain traction — signaling that broader participation is still lacking. A breakdown below $91,000 would expose the next major support area at $90,000–$90,500. For bulls, a close back above $93,200 is required to invalidate the short-term downtrend.
Major altcoins were mixed as the weekend approached. Ether traded near $3,150, slipping modestly overnight. Solana fell around 4%, XRP dropped nearly 5%, and Cardano declined about 2%. Overall crypto market capitalization rose roughly 1% in the past 24 hours to sit near $3.2 trillion, extending a slow, two-week recovery following a multi-week slump. Over the past seven days, ETH outperformed with gains exceeding 5%, while zcash posted a strong single-session rally.
ETF flows reflected a sharp divide: spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $14.9 million in net outflows, whereas ether ETFs attracted $140.2 million in inflows, pointing to a rotation of capital from BTC into ETH. Liquidation data underscored that divergence — BTC registered roughly $45 million in long liquidations and $50.7 million in shorts, while ETH saw more than $103 million in short liquidations as traders betting against it were caught offside during a volatility spike.
Macro dynamics added further uncertainty. U.S. ADP payrolls fell by 32,000 in November, well below expectations and signaling a sharper cooling in the labor market. Wage growth also slowed, and futures markets now see almost a 90% chance of a December rate cut. The dollar index swung sharply as investors adjusted their policy expectations, and volatility rose across broader risk assets.
FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that bitcoin’s brief push toward $94,000 met “not yet too aggressive” selling pressure, suggesting heavier resistance may not emerge until the $98,000–$100,000 region. How BTC reacts if it retests those levels, he added, will help determine whether the market is building a more lasting recovery or simply extending a corrective rally.
Analysts at Bitunix said the market has entered a phase defined by “macroeconomic turning-point expectations and internal crypto capital rotation,” citing ETF flows and liquidations as evidence. They expect continued volatility and range-bound trading until bitcoin can either establish support above $93,000 or break below $90,500.
Institutional moves added a bit of support to sentiment. Vanguard opened crypto ETF trading access for clients earlier this week, Bank of America signaled institutional portfolios may allocate 1%–4% to digital assets, and the CME introduced a VIX-style implied volatility index for bitcoin futures, with similar indices for ether, solana, and XRP on the way.
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