BTC continued to trade between the $100,000–$105,000 range, opening the day at the lower band of $101,900.
Renewed ETF outflows saw Bitcoin lose –$278 million, while Ethereum lost –$184 million. Solana continues to outperform with an addition of +$18.06 million.
Futures positioning: open interest slipped by –3.58% to $66.14 billion with liquidations worth $186.47 million, majority of them, long liquidations.
Whales accumulation continues with over 45,000 BTC added this week, the second-largest accumulation of 2025.
Macro tailwinds: U.S. government officially reopens after House passes spending bill with China–U.S. trade tone continuing to soften; aiding global liquidity.
The HKMA handed its first approvals to the banks that already print the Hong Kong dollar. That tells you everything about what these tokens are meant to be.
Geopolitical pressure from the Strait of Hormuz standoff continues to weigh on BTC, which has failed to sustain gains above $72,500 even as whale selling dries up and leveraged shorts accumulate.
BTC retreated from a weekend high near $73,000 after the U.S. announced naval interdiction of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, compounding an already fragile market structure.
DRW founder Don Wilson's blunt critique of MEV cuts to a deeper flaw: blockchain market design has drifted into engineering complexity that extracts value without improving price discovery or capital allocation.
