BTC breaks through 88,000 but faces pressure, why are institutions still continuously buying?

Bitcoin prices are showing the typical “high open, low go” pattern at the $88,000 mark. According to the latest news, BTC/USDT is currently trading at $88,012.1, down 2.02% in the past 24 hours, and down 9.75% over the past 7 days. Behind this price fluctuation, there are two opposing forces in the market competing: short-term selling pressure and long-term allocation enthusiasm.

The True Reflection of Price Fluctuations

Multi-timeframe pressure signals

From different timeframes, the selling pressure on BTC is increasing step by step:

• 1 hour: down 0.41%
• 24 hours: down 2.02% (flash data) or 2.48% (news data)
• 7 days: down 9.75%
• 30 days: down 1.87%

This data sequence reflects a clear pattern: market sentiment has turned pessimistic in the short term. According to the latest news, the entire crypto market sector has pulled back, with over $800 million in long positions liquidated during the recent decline, setting a new record for the year. Such large-scale liquidations usually indicate that leveraged traders in the market are being forced to cut losses.

Market background: Geopolitical risks intensify

The immediate trigger for this decline is the escalation of geopolitical risks. Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on European countries, which stimulated capital inflows into safe-haven assets like gold. As a risk asset, cryptocurrencies are under pressure in this environment. Meanwhile, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has fallen by 2.8% to $3.217 trillion, echoing the weakness in traditional stock markets.

Another Story of Institutional Demand

But if you only look at the price, you will miss a more important part of the market.

Continuous growth of custody wallets

According to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, institutional demand for Bitcoin remains strong. Over the past year, U.S. custody wallets have net added approximately 577,000 BTC, worth about $53 billion. This is a huge number, indicating that large institutions are continuously allocating Bitcoin rather than selling.

This data carries an important implication: the time cycle for institutional investors is completely different from that of short-term traders. They focus on annual allocations rather than daily fluctuations.

Details of ETF flows

The performance of Bitcoin spot ETFs better illustrates the situation. Although there was a net outflow of about $103 million (1,106 BTC) in a single day, there was still a net inflow of $1.68 billion (18,138 BTC) over the past seven days. This suggests that recent selling is just a short-term adjustment, and the overall trend remains capital inflow.

Further confirmation comes from Ethereum and Solana ETF data: over the past seven days, ETH had a net inflow of $466 million, and SOL had a net inflow of $47.4 million. This is not a market retreat but a continuation of allocation after adjustment.

Whales’ Strategy Shift

On-chain data also reflects an interesting phenomenon: large funds are changing their strategies.

According to monitoring data, a well-known on-chain whale “On-Chain Investor” has recently reduced short positions in BTC and ETH, while shifting funds into on-chain stocks and gold assets. The address’s total holdings exceed $67.2 million, with holdings in on-chain stocks and gold-related assets reaching $24.35 million.

What does this shift indicate? It may suggest that some aggressive traders believe short-term risks have been released and are beginning to reallocate into other assets. But this is not a bearish view on Bitcoin; rather, it’s a reassessment of overall risk.

Summary

The fluctuation of BTC around $88,000 is essentially a tug-of-war between short-term sentiment and long-term allocation. Short-term price pressures do not conceal a bigger fact: institutional demand remains strong, ETFs continue to see net inflows, and custody wallets are expanding.

In the short term, geopolitical risks, high leverage liquidations, and other factors will continue to create volatility. But from the perspective of capital flows and institutional behavior, this looks more like an adjustment rather than a trend reversal. $88,000 is neither a ceiling nor a bottom; it’s just an intermediate point in this long-term allocation process.

The key is to observe the ETF flows and institutional reactions in the coming days, as these data will tell us the true direction of the market.