Bitcoin Slides to $69K as Strive Adds 2,500 BTC, JOLTS Print Looms, RSI Hits 25

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin extended its slide on Tuesday, trading near $69,000 after dropping roughly 4.5% in 24 hours and pushing the broader crypto complex into the red. The decline accelerated following a treasury company disclosure of a small BTC sale, which traders interpreted as a sentiment shift rather than a meaningful supply event. With the February 6 wick low at $60,000 viewed as anomalous, market participants increasingly cite the $63,000 zone as the more realistic retest target. Ether held up better with only a 0.5% pullback, while Solana lost about 2.5%, leaving BTC as the session's notable laggard among large-cap assets.

Macro traders are bracing for the April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, released at 10 a.m. ET, the first major employment data point ahead of Friday's payrolls report and the Federal Reserve's pre-meeting blackout window. With prediction markets assigning a 98% probability that policymakers hold the benchmark rate at 3.50%-3.75% on June 16-17, the immediate focus shifts to second-half 2026 expectations. A softer print would revive rate-cut hopes, ease Treasury yields and weaken the dollar — conditions historically supportive for BTC. A hotter reading would harden the hawkish case, tighten financial conditions and pressure leveraged positioning across the exchange ecosystem.

Bitcoin treasury firm Strive (ASST) used the pullback to add 2,500 BTC for roughly $185.2 million at an average price of $74,092 per coin, lifting total holdings to 19,000 BTC. The acquisition, disclosed in an 8-K filing, came at a lower average cost than its May 22 buy of 1,109 BTC at $76,989, indicating disciplined accumulation into weakness. Strive reported a quarter-to-date BTC yield of 23.0% and year-to-date yield of 36.7%, with an amplification ratio of 57.0%. The company also raised cash reserves to maintain an 18-month dividend cushion, signaling balance-sheet conservatism alongside aggressive accumulation.

The Strive buy lands one day after the largest corporate BTC holder, Strategy (MSTR), disclosed its first publicized sale — 32 BTC offloaded at an average price of $77,135 for about $2.5 million. While modest in absolute terms, the symbolic weight of MSTR shifting from accumulator to seller has unsettled markets, raising fresh questions about whether digital asset treasury companies with leveraged capital structures can withstand a sustained drawdown. The 2022 bear market tested an earlier, smaller cohort; the current iteration is far larger, with several issuers carrying convertible debt that has not yet been stress-tested against an extended downturn.

Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer initiated coverage of Strive with a Buy rating and a $32 price target, implying roughly 93% upside from recent Class A share levels despite a pre-market decline of about 3.59%. The coverage launch reflects continued institutional appetite for publicly traded BTC proxy vehicles, even as the underlying asset price softens. Treasury-company equity has emerged as a distinct trade — offering levered BTC exposure through traditional brokerage rails — and analyst initiations of this size suggest sell-side desks still view the model as durable. The divergence between treasury accumulation and the spot tape underscores the conviction split now defining positioning across the blockchain asset class.

The treasury-company narrative also intersects with capital-allocation dynamics across the broader risk spectrum. An overnight $80 billion capital raise tied to AI infrastructure — including a $10 billion check from Berkshire Hathaway — has reinforced concerns that institutional liquidity is migrating toward artificial intelligence themes at crypto's expense. For traders, the question is whether BTC's role as a liquidity-sensitive asset can reassert itself if jobs data softens and the dollar gives back ground. Until then, the asset's near-term direction remains tied more to real yields and macro positioning than to anything originating on-chain. Spot ETF flows will be the cleanest read on whether dip-buying institutions step in this week.

From a technical standpoint, BTC at $69,096 sits deep in oversold territory with RSI at 25.36 and a bearish MACD confirming the prevailing downtrend. Immediate support at $68,196 must hold to prevent a slide toward $66,951 and the more critical $64,829 shelf, which roughly aligns with the often-cited $63,000 retest zone. Reclaiming $70,280 would offer the first sign of stabilization, with $72,673 and $75,072 marking the resistance ladder bulls need to break for trend reversal. A daily close beneath $66,951 would invalidate any near-term bounce thesis and open the door to a deeper capitulation flush.