Bitcoin (BTC) edges slightly higher, trading around $108,000 on Thursday following a dip in its price in the last two days. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is struggling to recover despite an improving risk tone, as the US court blocked US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs. Meanwhile, institutional demand remains robust as Metaplanet raises capital to purchase more BTC, GameStop adds BTC, and Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) continue to see inflows.
Eren Sengezer, lead analyst at FXStreet, reports that markets turn risk-positive in the second half of the week as fears over an economic downturn in the US ease following a federal court’s decision to block US President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs.
The court’s decision came on Wednesday, when the three-judge panel issued a permanent injunction on the blanket tariff orders issued by Trump since January and ordered the issuance of new orders reflecting the permanent injunction within ten days. The Trump administration has appealed the decision.
Despite this positive news, Bitcoin failed to recover.
In the meantime, the Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s May monetary policy meeting showed that officials saw elevated uncertainty about the economic outlook.
“Participants noted they may face difficult trade-offs if inflation proved more persistent while outlooks for growth and employment weakened,” the publication noted.
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its second estimate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the first quarter on Thursday. The US economic calendar will also feature weekly Initial Jobless Claims and April Pending Home Sales data.
A better-than-anticipated GDP headline, followed by a lower-than-expected weekly Initial Jobless claims, could support the Fed’s hawkish stance and strengthen the US Dollar (USD) while weighing on risky assets like Bitcoin. However, discouraging figures could have the opposite effect on the US Dollar and cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s demand continues to strengthen so far this week. On Wednesday, US video game retailer GameStop made its first Bitcoin purchase after acquiring 4,710 BTC. The acquisition follows GameStop’s $1.3 billion convertible note offering, issued in March, as part of its plan to include Bitcoin as a treasury asset.
On Thursday, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet announced that it has issued $21 million in Ordinary Bonds to purchase more BTC; the firm currently holds 7,800 BTC in its treasury.
The corporate companies’ interest in Bitcoin indicates a growing acceptance of BTC as a strategic asset, boosting its legitimacy and potentially driving long-term adoption.
According to SoSoValue data, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded an inflow of $432.62 million on Wednesday, continuing its streak of inflow since mid-May. If this institutional inflow continues or intensifies, the BTC price could recover and head toward its all-time high of $111,980.
Total Bitcoin spot ETFs daily chart. Source: SoSoValue
Bitcoin price continued its decline on Wednesday, following a mild drop the previous day. However, it retested and found support around its daily level of $106,406. At the time of writing on Thursday, BTC recovers slightly, trading around $108,400.
Bitcoin momentum indicators are flashing early warning signs of potential exhaustion. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reads 62, pointing downward after being rejected from its overbought level of 70, indicating fading bullish momentum. Additionally, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator also showed a bearish crossover. It also shows rising red histogram bars below its neutral level, indicating a correction ahead.
If BTC corrects and closes below its daily support at $106,406 on a daily basis, it could extend the decline to revisit its psychologically important level of $100,000.
BTC/USDT daily chart
However, if BTC continues to recover and closes above its all-time high, it could extend the rally toward the key psychological level of $120,000.
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.