Why Is Bitcoin Playing Hard to Get? 🤨

What to know:

By James Van Straten (ET times unless I say so)

Bitcoin

Oh, look at that—Bitcoin’s hanging just shy of $110K, up 2%. Big deal, right? Almost at its record from last month. But no, it’s underperforming, because markets are like that—jealous, petty. The CoinDesk 20 Index? Gained 3.4%. Ether? Over 6%. So, Bitcoin’s like, “Hey, I got this,” but really, it’s just blushing behind the curtain.

And guess what? 126 companies are holding Bitcoin in their treasuries, up 22 in a month. They own about 819,000 BTC—wow, that’s a lot of “I bought a digital coin, and I don’t know what to do with it.” Meanwhile, Matthew Sigel from VanEck says, “Let’s raise $76 billion, because why not? More money’s always better, right?”

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust? Oh, it’s the speed demon—smashed $70 billion in 341 days. Faster than you can say “FOMO.” Monday alone: $2.7 billion in trading volume. Because nothing says “confidence” like trading billions in a day.

But wait, there’s more! Bitcoin’s stuck. Can’t break beyond $100K or over $110K without a big bang. It’s like that annoying friend at a party who won’t leave—just keeping everyone waiting. “Reawaken the market,” they say. Yeah, sure. The US CPI and China talks? Maybe they’ll help. Or not. Stay tuned. 🙄

Conferences

The CoinDesk Policy & Regulation conference: basically, suits talking to suits about crypto regulation. Yawn.
Other events? Just a bunch of crypto folks eating free sushi and pretending they understand what’s going on.

June 14: Kyiv Crypto Meet (or something like that)
June 18-19: Ottawa’s Policy Summit—boring but necessary
June 19-21: BTC Prague—because why not?
June 25-26: Washington’s Bitcoin Summit—more suits talking to each other
June 26: NYC Injective Summit—yes, inject away
June 26-27: Istanbul Blockchain Week—lots of Turkish delight and blockchain chatter
June 30-July 3: France’s Ethereum Conference—more French pastries, less clarity

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

SEC gives DeFi tokens a free pass—AAVE and UNI jump 16%. Looks like everyone got the memo to ride the gravy train.
ETH? Up 7.3%. Volume doubled. It’s like ETH got a caffeine shot—$26.5 billion traded. Boom!
Break $2,650 resistance, and ETH might go all the way to $4,000—like a kid on sugar. December highs? Maybe. Or maybe just a tease.
Altcoin season index is creeping up—traders are bored with Bitcoin and jumping on SUI, HYPE, ETH. Pot calling the kettle cheap, but whatever makes you happy.
Since March, Bitcoin’s up 32%, but SUI, HYPE, ETH—up to 200%. Basically, Bitcoin’s the tortoise, and the altcoins? The rabbits on steroids.

Derivatives Positioning

Options fascination: $44 billion in open interest—it’s like a poker game, and everyone’s betting big. Don’t worry about the chips—just more zeros.
Put/call ratio? 0.57. Bullish? Oh, you bet. Everybody’s feeling lucky—or maybe just greedy.
Huge strikes ($140K) being traded—like billion-dollar bets on whether Bitcoin will hit the moon or crash into a volcano.
And if you think this is intense, AXL’s open interest? Up 800%. Why? Because traders love the thrill. Or perhaps they just need a hobby.
Funding rates at 36.1% APR—longs are pushing hard. Leverage up to the eyeballs. Watch out below! 💥
Liquidations? Over $170 million in a day. Mostly shorts, which shows traders are betting against success but ending up in the mud.

Market Movements

BTC up 2.14%, at $109,535—pretty much holding onto its pants.
ETH? Yeah, up 6.18% at $2,692—probably feeling pretty good about itself.
Other indexes? Just trying to keep up—nothing special here, folks.

DXY: up a tiny bit. Gold and Silver? Down. Because markets have a sense of humor, of course.
European markets? Less exciting—pretty much flat or messing around.
US stocks? Even less movement—like watching paint dry, but at least it’s consistent.

Bitcoin Stats

Dominance? 64.53%. Meh. Can’t hold onto anything, can it?
Ether/BTC ratio is creeping up—probably because everyone’s waiting for ETH to hit the jackpot.
Hashrate? Still strong. Miners are working harder—probably bored.
Market cap? Still tiny compared to gold—like comparing a fish to a whale.

Technical Analysis

Solana’s trying to act like a grown-up—back above the 50-day EMA, but still cautious. Bulls want $170-$180? Easy. But don’t get ahead of yourself. Support is key, or it’s gonna be a sad story.