Solana-based decentralized finance yield protocol Carrot said Thursday that it is shutting down permanently, becoming one of the first DeFi protocols to fall due to contagion from the Drift Protocol exploit in early April.
In an X post on Thursday, Carrot said the Drift exploit was “catastrophic” for the protocol and had left it financially unable to continue operating. The platform set a May 14 deadline for users to withdraw remaining funds. It said it will continue to help recovery efforts related to Drift and distribute assets once they become available.
“We are setting May 14th as the deadline to withdraw any remaining funds from Boost, Turbo, and CRT before we will then begin to deleverage the system. Your deposited funds are still yours, but all leverage will be reduced to zero, freeing up all liquidity for CRT redemption,” the protocol’s team said.
The Drift protocol exploit on April 1 was the second-largest in 2026. It was a highly coordinated attack that involved months of social engineering by a group of hackers who gained admin control and drained more than half the protocol’s total value locked.
The contagion spread to several affiliated projects such as the yield protocol Gauntlet, the lending and borrowing platform PrimeFi and the crypto fund Elemental DeFi.
Carrot was integrated with Drift’s infrastructure and used its pools to generate yield for its users. Its TVL collapsed after the Drift Protocol hack.
According to data from DefiLlama, Carrot’s total value locked was around $28 million before the Drift hack, and is currently $1.99 million, marking a decrease of roughly 93%.
Carrot’s sharp TVL drop after the Drift hack. Source: DefiLlama
DefiLlama data also shows nearly $630 million worth of digital assets were stolen in April across 25 incidents, making it the month with the largest losses since February 2025, when $1.47 billion was stolen.
The $293 million hack on liquid staking protocol Kelp is the largest exploit of 2026 so far. The Drift hack is close behind at $285 million. Together, these two attacks account for more than 90% of all crypto stolen in April.
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Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded 32% to a 10-week high of $79,500 on April 22 from its sub-60,000 multi-year low. But recent buyers took advantage of the rally to exit as the price has since corrected to $76,000 on Thursday, with $80,000 proving a tough barrier to break.
Key takeaways:
Bitcoin sell pressure risk exists around $80,000, a resistance level that may delay the bulls.
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin failed to break above $80,000 as its rebound fell short of a bull market comeback.
This is due to the resistance zone between the True Market Mean at $78,000 and the Short-Term Holder (STH) cost basis at $79,000, which continues to cap upward momentum, as recent buyers used this range to exit near breakeven.
“This behavior is a textbook pattern in bear markets, where price approaches the breakeven level of the most price-sensitive cohort, the incentive to exit positions overwhelms incoming demand, exhausting upside momentum,” Glassnode said in its latest Week Onchain newsletter, adding:
“With this rejection confirming overhead resistance, the mid-term bias tilts toward further downward pressure.”
Bitcoin STH cost basis model. Source: Glassnode
Bitcoin’s cost basis distribution data shows that investors hold about 475,301 BTC at an average cost of $77,800-$80,880, reinforcing the significance of this resistance zone.
After reclaiming the 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages, BTC/USD has sent “one bottoming signal after another firing on higher timeframes,” technical analyst SuperBitcoinBro said in a Wednesday post on X, adding:
“But I agree it needs to get past 80K.”
Daan Crypto Trades said the $80,000 level remains the “main level for the bulls in the short/mid term.”
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: X/Daan Crypto Trades
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin breaking $80,000 would signal that the bulls are still in control, paving the way for the next big resistance at $84,000.
BTC selling by short-term holders halts rally
Additional onchain data shows “heavy distribution” by short-term holders, as these investors booked profits on Bitcoin’s recent rally to $80,000.
The 24-hour SMA of STH Realized Profit shows that as the price approached the $80,000 level, recent buyers realized profits at a rate of $4 million per hour.
The 24-hour SMA of STH Realized Profit is a real-time measure of how aggressively recent buyers are realizing gains.
The metric spiked as high as $7.2 million per hour on April 15, about roughly “four times the base level that had established itself since mid-April, confirming that short-term holders seized the rally as a distribution opportunity,” Glassnode said, adding:
“The buy side simply lacked sufficient liquidity to absorb this wave of profit realization, capping momentum and triggering the subsequent rejection.”
More selling pressure came from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which have recorded outflows for three consecutive days, totaling $390 million.
This marked the longest outflow streak since March 20, when a three-day outflow streak accompanied an 11.5% BTC price drop after rejection at $76,000.
Spot BTC ETF flows chart. Source: SoSoValue
Analysts at Wise Advise said that the return to spot BTC ETF outflows after a nine-day inflow streak is the first sign that “the local top may be in.”
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has launched an open payments protocol for artificial intelligence agents, joining a growing push by crypto and payments companies to build infrastructure that lets software agents pay for services and transact with less human input.
The new cross-chain Agent Payments Protocol (APP) is designed to let AI agents operate and communicate autonomously. OKX said Wednesday that the cross-chain standard can handle agent-to-agent payments, recurring or top-up payment flows and other automated payment arrangements across business processes. The company also said agents will be able to negotiate with each other, escrow funds and release them on verified task delivery.
OKX said the framework is built around its self-custodial Agentic Wallet and Payment SDK, with support on X Layer and broader cross-chain implementation. The company is pitching the protocol as a way for AI agents to move from simple payment requests to more autonomous commercial activity.
The launch comes as competition intensifies to build payment rails for AI agents. Google has promoted its AP2 protocol, Coinbase has its x402 standard, and Visa and Stripe-linked efforts have also moved into the space, with companies apparently trying to quickly define the rails for machine-to-machine commerce.
APP compared to the existing payment protocols. Source: OKX
OKX targets end-to-end AI agent commerce
OKX is pitching APP as a broader commerce layer rather than a simple payment button.
The company said AI agents can query real-time market data feeds, while the service responds with an HTTP 402 payment request, and agents pay per call with automatic settlement.
Agents can then hire a specialized sub-agent to complete the research task, APP opens an escrow account, and payment is released upon verification after the work is delivered.
OKX AI agent framework. Source: OKX
Developers can also use OKX’s payment tools on X Layer, where the company says some stablecoin transfers can be executed without gas fees.
The growing race to enable machine payments could also support stablecoin usage, as they can help unlock machine-to-machine payments by making microtransactions viable and enabling programmable, conditional payments between software agents without a human in the loop, Bernstein said in March.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
AAVE’s technical collapse through critical support levels points to an imminent drop to $85-87, but massive whale accumulation signals a violent reversal that could rocket the token to $110+ once t…
The Technical Carnage Unfolds
AAVE is in freefall, dropping 4.12% in 24 hours to $92.67 as the token sheds nearly 40% from its 200-day moving average at $150. The momentum indicators paint a picture of capitulation – RSI hovering just above oversold territory while MACD flatlines at zero, showing neither buyers nor sellers have conviction at these levels.
But beneath this surface destruction, something interesting is brewing. Open interest jumped 10.28% to $62.1 million in just one day, signaling that major players are taking positions while retail traders flee. This divergence between price action and derivatives activity often precedes explosive moves.
Critical Support Zone Dead Ahead
The next logical destination for AAVE sits at the $85-87 confluence zone, where the lower Bollinger Band at $83.21 meets historical support levels. This represents the final capitulation point where overleveraged positions get liquidated and smart money steps in aggressively.
Above current levels, AAVE faces a fortress of resistance. The immediate barrier at $96.84 aligns with short-term moving averages, while the real test comes at $101-105 where multiple technical levels converge. Any sustainable recovery must clear this zone to flip the narrative from bearish to bullish.
The Bollinger Band positioning shows AAVE getting compressed toward extreme oversold levels, typically the setup for either a final washout or a violent squeeze in the opposite direction.
Smart Money Positioning Reveals the Plan
While the crowd panics, institutional players are quietly accumulating. The top traders ratio shows whales holding 62.5% long positions versus just 37.5% short – a stark contrast to the retail sentiment driving current selling pressure. These aren’t speculative bets; sophisticated traders are positioning for a reversal.
The funding rate at -0.0088% remains only slightly negative, indicating shorts haven’t reached the greed levels that typically mark cycle lows. When that capitulation arrives, the reversal will be swift and punishing to anyone caught on the wrong side.
Analysts at Blockchain.news have been tracking this accumulation pattern across multiple DeFi tokens, noting that institutional positioning often precedes major trend reversals by several weeks.
The Two-Phase Trade Setup
Phase 1 – The Final Flush (Next 7 Days): AAVE likely breaks $90 and cascades to the $85-87 target zone as weak hands capitulate. Any bounce to $95-96 offers prime shorting opportunities with tight stops at $98. The technical breakdown points to this washout completing within a week.
Phase 2 – The Violent Reversal (May-June): Once AAVE touches the $85-87 zone and shows reversal signals, the setup flips dramatically bullish. Whale positioning suggests they’re waiting for maximum pain before unleashing coordinated buying that could drive AAVE to $110-120 by mid-June.
The invalidation level sits at $101 – a sustained break above this resistance confirms the reversal phase has begun and opens the door to much higher targets through summer.
This pattern of institutional accumulation during retail capitulation has played out repeatedly in crypto markets. The question isn’t whether AAVE recovers, but how violent the bounce will be when it arrives.
KuCoin EU has appointed a new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) chief and expanded its compliance team in Vienna, weeks after Austrian regulators barred the exchange from taking on new business under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) regime.
The MiCA-licensed entity named Carmen Kleinhans as its Anti-Money Laundering officer, alongside two deputy AML officers drawn from former Austrian regulators and bank compliance chiefs. According to a Wednesday release, the team will oversee AML, Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) and sanctions controls, as well as enterprise-wide risk management and regulatory engagement.
The move follows a February decision by Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) to prohibit KuCoin EU from onboarding new clients or signing new contracts after finding that key AML/CTF and sanctions compliance roles were not adequately staffed, breaching internal organizational requirements.
The hires mark an effort by the exchange to address those gaps and align more closely with traditional financial services compliance expectations, as regulators increasingly focus on governance and controls rather than solely technical breaches.
The new staffing push also comes against a broader backdrop of rising AML and sanctions scrutiny in crypto, with regulators increasingly willing to freeze or partially suspend business over governance and staffing failures rather than just technical breaches of securities or licensing rules.
A Tuesday report by blockchain security auditor CertiK showed that KuCoin and OKX were among the exchanges hit with some of the largest AML-related penalties in 2025, highlighting how enforcement has shifted toward financial crime and controls rather than solely securities law issues.
Notable AML-Related Penalties in 2025. Source: CertiK
At a group level, KuCoin has also faced regulatory action in other jurisdictions. In January 2025, it agreed to pay nearly $300 million and exit the US market for two years in a criminal resolution over unlicensed money-transmission and AML failures, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
On March 30, the parent company of KuCoin agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle a case by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleging it operated an unregistered offshore commodities exchange. Earlier that same month, KuCoin received a warning from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority over allegedly offering virtual asset services in the emirate without the required local licence.
Whether the hires are enough to restore normal operations under KuCoin EU’s Austrian authorization now depends on the FMA’s assessment of whether the required control functions have been fully and suitably restored.
Cointelegraph reached out to KuCoin EU for comment, but had not received a response by publication.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Andre Cronje says much of decentralized finance is “no longer DeFi” in the strict sense, as builders debate whether circuit breakers and other emergency controls are now necessary to protect users from exploits.
The Flying Tulip founder told Cointelegraph in an interview that many protocols are no longer immutable public goods, but rather “teams running for-profit businesses” with upgradeable contracts, offchain infrastructure and operational controls.
That shift changes the security model, he said. While early DeFi protocols were mostly defined by immutable smart contracts, newer systems often depend on proxy upgrades, multisigs, infrastructure providers, admin processes and human response teams, according to Cronje.
“I think what we have today, Flying Tulip included, is no longer DeFi. It’s not decentralized finance. It’s not immutable code,” Cronje said. “It’s teams running for-profit businesses.”
The comments come as April’s DeFi exploits pushed security narratives beyond smart contract audits and into questions of operational risk. On Thursday, Flying Tulip added a withdrawal circuit breaker designed to delay or queue withdrawals during abnormal outflows. The move follows major incidents involving decentralized exchange Drift Protocol and restaking platform Kelp, with estimated losses of about $280 million and $293 million, respectively.
Flying Tulip’s Andre Cronje (left) and Cointelegraph’s Ezra Reguerra (right). Source: Cointelegraph
DeFi risks move beyond smart contracts
Cronje said the industry focuses on audits when many systems can be changed by developers or controlled through administrative processes.
“The focus over all of the industry is still very much so on the contract side and not sort of the more TradFi side,” Cronje told Cointelegraph, adding that many recent exploits have involved “traditional Web2 stuff” such as infrastructure access, compromises and social engineering.
He said protocols with upgradeable contracts need traditional checks and balances around who can upgrade code, who approves changes and whether there are proper timelocks and multisig controls.
Curve Finance and Yield Basis founder Michael Egorov shared the view that recent incidents show the risks are increasingly tied to centralization and offchain dependencies rather than only smart contract bugs.
“The vast majority of the most recent DeFi exploits happened not due to errors in code,” Egorov told Cointelegraph. “They happened because of centralization risks — single points of failure which live off-chain.”
Egorov said Aave, Kelp and LayerZero smart contracts were not hacked in the recent rsETH incident, arguing that the compromise came from offchain infrastructure. He said DeFi protocols can be exposed to “a whole tree of risks,” with the largest risks often tied to humans rather than code.
Circuit breakers divide DeFi builders
Cronje said Flying Tulip’s circuit breaker is not designed to permanently block withdrawals, but to create a response window when outflows exceed normal parameters. “Our circuit breaker isn’t actually designed so that we can stop or prevent anything from happening,” he said. “It’s to give us time to react.”
Flying Tulip’s system gives the team about six hours, although Cronje said smaller or less geographically distributed teams may need 12 to 24 hours, or even longer. He said the tool makes sense for contracts that hold user funds, but should be viewed as one layer among audits, distributed multisigs, timelocks and other controls.
“Security is always a layered approach,” Cronje said. “It’s never a ‘this is the one thing’ that makes you invulnerable.”
Egorov was more cautious. He said circuit breakers can make sense in theory, but only if they are implemented in a way that does not create a new privileged attack surface. “The circuit breakers are controlled by humans, which means they could become a potential vulnerability themselves,” Egorov told Cointelegraph.
He warned that if emergency controls allow signers to change contract code or block withdrawals, compromised signers could turn the safeguard into a drainer or a centralized freeze mechanism. In his view, the better long-term answer is to design systems that can keep running safely without manual intervention.
“The goal of DeFi design should be to minimize human-centric points of failure, not add to them,” Egorov said. “DeFi needs to be safe, and safety comes from decentralization.”
Standard Chartered says Kelp episode shows DeFi resilience
Standard Chartered framed the Kelp episode as a sign of DeFi’s growing pains rather than a fatal failure.
In a Wednesday research note seen by Cointelegraph, the bank said the April 18 theft exposed systemic risks after the impact spread to Aave, but said the more than $300 million raised by the DeFi United coalition and structural changes such as Aave V4 and the Ethereum Economic Zone suggest the sector is developing stronger defenses.
DeFi United site shows over $321 million raised or committed. Source: DeFi United
The bank said those upgrades could reduce reliance on bridges, which it described as a major attack vector in recent crypto hacks.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
The Canadian government has proposed banning Bitcoin and other crypto ATMs, arguing the machines have become a primary on-ramp for fraudsters and money launderers rather than a convenient access point for everyday users.
The government’s Spring Economic Update 2026, published on April 28, says crypto ATMs are a “primary method for scammers to defraud victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime,” and explicitly states that the government “proposes to ban crypto ATMs.”
The proposal states that Canadians will still be able to buy virtual currencies from brick-and-mortar money services businesses, but the standalone kiosks that have proliferated in malls, gas stations and corner stores would be phased out.
The move adds to a broader push by Ottawa to clamp down on what it frames as retail-facing crypto risks as fraud cases surge, while bringing more of the digital asset sector under tighter federal oversight. Authorities say the move is aimed at cutting off one of the most common channels used in scams that have increasingly targeted Canadians.
The policy is of particular note given Canada’s early role in the sector. The world’s first publicly available Bitcoin ATM went live in a Vancouver coffee shop in 2013, making Canada the birthplace of the Bitcoin ATM.
Since then, the country has grown into one of the most crypto-ATM-dense markets globally, a status regulators say has given it disproportionate exposure to fraud. Coin ATM Radar data estimates that Canada accounts for 10.1% of global crypto ATMs, second only to the United States.
A months-long CBC investigation and internal Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) analysis posted April 28 found that crypto ATMs have become the principal method used by domestic and foreign criminal fraudsters to extract money from Canadian scam victims and push those funds into the crypto ecosystem.
Law enforcement agencies told CBC they have seen a clear uptick in cases where victims are instructed to feed cash into these machines under the guise of paying tax debts, securing romance relationships or recovering hacked accounts.
The proposed ATM ban sits within a broader effort to tighten controls around high-risk corners of Canada’s crypto market while drawing core infrastructure more firmly into the regulatory perimeter.
Crypto ATM distribution by continents and countries. Source: Coin ATM Radar
The same Spring Economic Update bolsters a new Financial Crimes Agency and gives FINTRAC more tools to refuse or revoke registrations for non-compliant money services businesses, including crypto companies.
In parallel, Ottawa has enacted a federal stablecoin framework in Bill C-15 that makes the Bank of Canada the supervisor and requires fiat-referenced issuers to register, fully back reserves and redeem at par, with most rules kicking in after regulations are finalized ahead of an expected 2027 start date.
Lawmakers are also advancing Bill C-25 to bar cryptocurrency donations in federal politics over concerns about traceability and foreign interference, as the country adopts a regulation-first approach to target retail-facing abuse risks and pull core digital asset rails under federal oversight.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
AAVE’s technical neutrality masks aggressive whale positioning with 57.6% long bias and buying pressure dominance. The $100.26 resistance break could trigger a swift move to $105-108 zone within tw…
Market Context: Why AAVE is Moving Now
AAVE sits in a deceptive calm at $96.89, trading just below its 20-day moving average of $97.76 while the broader DeFi narrative remains subdued. The 0.69% daily decline masks underlying accumulation patterns that suggest institutional positioning ahead of a potential breakout. With the token holding above its 7-day SMA of $95.76, the selling pressure appears exhausted rather than accelerating.
The derivatives market tells a different story than spot price action. Open interest has expanded 2.93% in 24 hours to $63.9 million, signaling fresh capital deployment rather than profit-taking. This divergence between muted spot movement and growing futures positioning typically precedes significant directional moves.
Indicator Alignment
The technical setup presents a coiled spring scenario. While the RSI at 48.38 suggests neutral momentum, the MACD histogram at effectively zero (-0.0000) indicates consolidation rather than bearish continuation. The Bollinger Band position at 0.47 places AAVE in the lower-middle range, providing ample room for expansion toward the $111.90 upper band.
More telling is the stark contrast between surface-level indicators and market microstructure. The daily ATR of $7.02 confirms compressed volatility, yet aggressive buying pressure maintains a 1.25 taker buy/sell ratio. This combination of low volatility and persistent buying typically resolves with explosive upward moves, as confirmed by analysis from Blockchain.news.
Whales & Analyst Targets
Smart money positioning reveals the most compelling bullish signal. Top traders maintain a 1.36 long/short ratio with 57.6% positioned for upside, while retail sentiment remains more balanced at 54.2% long. This divergence suggests institutional accumulation at current levels, anticipating a move higher.
The $100.26 resistance level represents the critical inflection point. A break above this threshold with volume confirmation should trigger algorithmic buying and stop-loss covering from short positions. The next meaningful resistance cluster sits at $105-108, representing a 8-11% upside potential from current levels.
Strategic Positioning
The bull case hinges on AAVE reclaiming the $98.57 immediate resistance and the 20-day moving average. Success here opens the path to $100.26, where a volume breakout could propel the token toward $105-108 within 48-72 hours. The neutral funding rate of 0.0012% suggests minimal positioning costs for leveraged longs.
The bear case requires a decisive break below the $95.42 immediate support, which would target the $93.96 strong support level. However, the combination of whale accumulation, positive taker ratios, and expanding open interest makes this scenario less probable in the immediate term. A failure to hold $93.96 would negate the bullish thesis and potentially trigger a retest of the $83.63 Bollinger Band lower bound.
Risk management remains paramount with position sizing appropriate for AAVE’s $7.02 daily ATR. The 65% probability favors upside resolution given current market microstructure and institutional positioning patterns.
LDO approaches a decisive breakout moment at $0.41 resistance with institutional money flowing long. A clean break triggers a 26% surge to $0.49, while failure drops the token to $0.34 support.
LDO Reaches Critical Inflection Point
LDO sits at $0.39, positioned between significant technical levels that will determine its next major move. The token trades above its 20-day moving average at $0.38 but remains constrained by overhead resistance at $0.41. This setup creates a compressed range where any decisive break carries amplified momentum potential.
Technical indicators paint a picture of building tension rather than clear direction. The RSI hovers at neutral territory around 54, while momentum oscillators show neither overbought nor oversold conditions. This equilibrium often precedes sharp directional moves once a catalyst emerges.
The real story emerges from LDO’s position within its trading envelope. Currently sitting at the middle of its Bollinger Band range, the token has room to move in either direction without hitting immediate technical constraints. The 200-day moving average at $0.53 represents the key long-term resistance level that bulls must eventually conquer.
Institutional Flow Signals Bullish Positioning
Smart money positioning contradicts the sideways price action, revealing accumulation beneath the surface. Open interest jumped 11.21% to nearly $16 million in 24 hours, indicating serious position building by sophisticated traders. This derivatives activity suggests institutions expect volatility ahead.
The long/short ratio among top traders reaches 1.37, with 57.8% maintaining net long exposure. Combined with a taker buy/sell ratio of 1.17, the data shows aggressive buying pressure from institutional participants. These metrics typically precede upward price movements when retail sentiment remains neutral.
Spot volume of $4.4 million appears modest, but this creates opportunity for leveraged moves when institutional flow accelerates. The current funding rate at 0.0075% indicates balanced positioning without excessive leverage in either direction, providing room for organic price discovery.
Price Targets and Timeline
LDO faces a binary outcome over the next 7-10 trading days. The primary scenario sees the token testing $0.41 resistance within this timeframe. A decisive break above this level with expanding volume opens the path to $0.49 – delivering a clean 26% gain from current levels.
The bullish case relies on institutional positioning converting to sustained buying pressure. Analysts at Blockchain.news note that LDO’s technical setup mirrors previous consolidation patterns that preceded significant breakouts. The compressed volatility and institutional accumulation create conditions for rapid price expansion once momentum builds.
The bearish alternative unfolds if LDO fails to break $0.41 convincingly. Rejection at this level likely sends the token back toward its 50-day moving average at $0.34, where major support converges with lower Bollinger Band boundaries around $0.31.
Key levels to monitor: $0.41 breakout triggers the bullish scenario, while a close below $0.38 signals weakness toward $0.34 support. Volume expansion above 150% of the 10-day average confirms any directional break.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $76,000 on Tuesday after failing to break $80,000 as uncertainties surrounding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and macroeconomic conditions unnerved the market. Meanwhile, technicals and onchain data sent mixed signals on BTC’s ability to sustain the recovery.
Key takeaways
Bitcoin is trapped in a tight range with strong technical support at $75,500 and heavy resistance near $80,000.
Bitcoin’s onchain metrics are mixed, with buy pressure rising but spot volume and active addresses declining.
Bitcoin price is sandwiched between two key levels
Bitcoin’s 30% recovery from sub-$60,000 lows reached on Feb. 6 was stopped by selling around the $78,000-$80,000 supply zone.
On the downside, Bitcoin retested support at $75,500, which is also the 20-day EMA, the 100-day EMA and the lower trend line of an ascending channel, as shown in the chart above.
Glassnode’s UTXO realized price distribution (URPD), which shows the average prices at which ETH holders bought their coins, reveals that immediate resistance is around $78,000 where investors acquired 335,650 BTC. Investors acquired roughly 298,560 BTC at an average price of $75,500, marking it as a key support level.
Bitcoin URPD all-time high partitioned. Source: Glassnode
The chart above also shows a larger supply overhang around $82,000-$84,000, which could stall price rallies, while a significant support zone sits between $65,500 and $67,000.
Notably, this is the price range defined by the ascending parallel channel in the TradingView chart above.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s liquidation heatmap shows BTC in a classic liquidation sandwich with heavy ask orders around $78,600 and dense bid positions below the spot price, as shown in the figure below. This highlights the relative tightness of the current market structure.
Bitcoin liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass
As Cointelegraph reported, buyers are expected to fiercely defend the $75,500-$76,000 support level, while bears are mounting a defense at the $80,000 psychological level.
Bitcoin’s onchain “fundamentals remain weak”
Bitcoin market data is showing a “mix of bullish momentum and cautious sentiment,” contributing to the uncertainty in the market, data from Glassnode shows.
Spot CVD (cumulative volume delta, a metric measuring the difference between buying and selling volume over time) has increased to $54.8 million million from $18.3 million, marking a near 200% increase over the last week.
“This reflects strong bullish sentiment among market participants, suggesting heightened confidence in Bitcoin’s short-term direction,” the onchain data provider said in its latest Market Pulse report.
Spot volume has decreased by 13.8% to $5.99 billion from $6.95 billion a week ago, “suggesting reduced market activity,” Glassnode added.
Bitcoin spot CVD and spot volume charts. Source: Glassnode
Meanwhile, the number of daily active addresses dropped by 1.6% over the same period, “reflecting a more subdued state of network participation and reduced speculative interest,” Glassnode said, adding:
“While buying pressure remains firm, reduced speculative activity suggests a more measured approach, with investors balancing risk and capital rotation.”
Swissblock’s Bitcoin Fundamental index, which measures network health, growth, demand, activity, and capital flows, echoes this outlook.
The index rose toward neutral with BTC’s recovery from macro lows below $60,000, and picked up again as the price reclaimed the $70,000 level.
“Bitcoin’s price structure points higher, but fundamentals remain weak,” the private wealth manager said in an X post on Monday, adding:
“Price can still rise here. But for a medium-term trend shift, Bitcoin needs neutral-to-strong fundamentals to confirm.”
Bitcoin fundamental index. Source: Swissblock
Institutional demand for Bitcoin is also in neutral territory. While Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, continues to buy BTC, flows into US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs turned negative, recording $273 million in net outflows on Monday.
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.
