Bitcoin climbed to a two-week high on Wednesday, breaking above $94,000 as traders attempted to recover from a selloff that’s erased over $1 trillion from crypto since early October.
At press time, the OG crypto was holding near $93,700, still riding a 2.6% gain that put it at its strongest intraday level since November 17. Meanwhile, Ether has surged by nearly 10% in 24 hours to hit $3,092 by press time.
XRP has rallied by 8% and SOL increased by 11.7%, according to data from CoinGecko.
The crypto selloff began just days after Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $126,000, triggering steep declines across most of crypto.
Since then, confidence has cratered. Sentiment hasn’t recovered. There’s no real strength behind the buying, and according to CryptoQuant, the buy-to-sell ratio for Bitcoin hit 1.17, the highest it’s been since the current cycle started in January 2023. That stat only matters because it shows more people buying than selling. But it doesn’t mean the market’s strong. Not yet.
Market Rebound Driven by Regulatory Clarity and Institutional Interest
The price swings restarted on Monday, when Strategy’s CEO Phong Le said their Bitcoin could be sold if needed to pay off debts. That was enough to send prices tumbling yet again. The company later tried to contain the fallout by confirming it had set aside a $1.4 billion reserve, supposedly to cover liquidity demands.
Traders like Sean McNulty, who leads APAC derivatives trading at FalconX, saw the sentiment breaking. “We don’t see a ton of buyers on the top side,” Sean said. “Sentiment is still fragile.” The evidence was already visible in the exchange-traded fund flows.
A set of 12 US-listed ETFs focused on Bitcoin only pulled in $59 million on Tuesday. Sean called the inflows “feeble,” and he wasn’t wrong.
Recovery started showing up on Tuesday, as crypto traders reacted to two pieces of news. First, Paul Atkins, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said new rules were coming soon. Specifically, he said the SEC would release the framework for what he described as an “innovation exemption” tailored to digital-asset companies.
That gave some hope to firms trying to avoid regulatory chokeholds. On top of that, Vanguard Group announced it would now support trading of ETFs and mutual funds with heavy exposure to crypto on its platform. That signaled a slight change in institutional positioning, enough to lift prices.
Those helped trigger $400 million in short liquidations across tokens in just 24 hours, based on tracking from Coinglass.
Analyst Views and Stablecoin Concerns Shape Market Sentiment
On Bloomberg TV, Melvin Deng, the CEO of QCP Group, called the whole thing a temporary bounce. “This rebound is actually just a relief rally,” Melvin said. He added that Bitcoin might “reclaim some momentum,” especially for those who haven’t yet re-entered the market. But there was no celebration.
QCP said the market has moved into a holding pattern. After the volatility earlier in the week, traders are now sitting tight. They’re watching Bitcoin stall around $95,000, up 5% from recent lows, and waiting for next week’s Federal Reserve meeting to give the next direction.
Equities and FX markets stayed calm on Wednesday. But the crypto market is watching one thing: interest rates. Traders believe there’s a 90% chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points next week.
Away from the charts, more chaos came from the stablecoin side. Last week, S&P Global Ratings downgraded USDT’s stability score to the lowest possible level. The concern? If Bitcoin’s price drops again, USDT might not have enough assets backing it. And that could destabilize the entire ecosystem.