Overview
- Bitcoin briefly cleared $82,000 on Wednesday and then slipped toward $80,000 on Thursday as the week’s rally cooled at a well-watched ceiling.
- Traders pointed to two main boosts for the pop — strong U.S. spot ETF demand over the past month of more than $5 billion and brighter risk appetite after Iran said it was reviewing a U.S. peace proposal, which helped pull oil prices down.
- CryptoQuant flagged a profit-taking spike on May 4 of 14,600 BTC and warned that such surges near resistance often precede pullbacks, while Coinglass reported 109,319 traders liquidated for $358.6 million over the past 24 hours.
- A whale-cohort study found “new” large holders added about 149,800 BTC since early April, while older long-term whales were nearly flat, and some analysts said weak network activity suggests the advance leans on futures rather than organic spot demand.
- Technicians still eye upside if $82,000 holds, with targets near $84,000–$85,000, and one research shop highlighted an unfilled Chicago futures “gap” around $93,000 — a price area with thin past trading that markets often revisit when positions unwind.