Bitcoin Eyes $78K Resistance as Bitfinex Longs Hit 2.5-Year High, Trump Media Pulls ETF

Bitcoin News

A five-day slide for Bitcoin failed to deter leveraged traders on Bitfinex, where margin longs climbed to roughly 80,636 BTC, their highest reading since December 2023. The position size represents continued accumulation by deep-pocketed traders even as the asset has slumped 13% year-to-date and remains around 35% below its October all-time high near $126,000. Margin longs have actually grown about 10% since January, a counter-trend posture that historically expands during periods of capitulation. Bitcoin is now wrestling with the True Market Mean and short-term holder cost basis near $78,000, with the 200-day moving average overhead at roughly $81,000.

Trump Media & Technology Group has withdrawn its Form S-1 registrations covering a planned spot Bitcoin ETF and a Bitcoin-Ethereum combination product. Sponsor Yorkville America said the issuer would instead pursue a structure under the Investment Company Act of 1940 rather than the 1933 Act, citing more flexibility for differentiated investment strategies. Analysts read the move as a response to brutal fee compression: the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market now sits near $57.4 billion in assets, and newer entrants must compete against Morgan Stanley's MSBT, which launched in April at a 0.14% expense ratio. The withdrawal leaves Truth Social's branded crypto-fund plans paused indefinitely.

Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau, working alongside Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, secured another 500 BTC worth roughly $38.7 million from a dormant wallet tied to a 2019 drug trafficking case. The agency credited Europol's highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources for unlocking the keys, and on-chain trackers confirmed the bitcoin moved to a trading desk after a decade of inactivity. The recovery represents the second tranche unlocked from twelve dormant addresses linked to convicted dealer Clifton Collins, who purchased the coins in 2011 and 2012 for a few dollars each. Wallets still tagged "Lost Keys" hold roughly 5,000 BTC valued near $387 million.

The ETH/BTC ratio collapsed to 0.0275, its weakest reading since July 2025, after Ethereum slid 10.2% on the week. Market makers characterised ETH as the wrong asset for this macro environment, citing underperformance across both spot and derivatives venues, softer funding, and elevated relative implied volatility. Spot Ethereum ETFs hemorrhaged $255 million in net outflows, the largest weekly withdrawal since late January, even as spot Bitcoin ETFs also bled capital. Exchange reserves told a similar story: ETH balances on Binance climbed from 3.4 million to nearly 3.8 million through May, while total exchange-wide reserves rose to 14.94 million.

The retreat from Truth Social's filing underlines just how compressed the spot Bitcoin ETF fee landscape has become. Morgan Stanley's MSBT launched in April at a market-leading 0.14% annual expense ratio and has already gathered $266.72 million in net assets, undercutting Grayscale's Mini Trust at 15 basis points and the BlackRock and Fidelity flagships, which both sit at 25 basis points. Newer sponsors face the choice of matching those razor-thin economics or pivoting product structure entirely. With more than $57 billion concentrated across incumbents, differentiation now matters more than first-mover branding for any aspiring late entrant in the category.

Separate on-chain activity drew attention to wallets labelled U.S. government-controlled FTX and Alameda seized funds, which shuffled multiple assets over the past 24 hours. The transfers included 289.65 ETH worth around $610,840 and 290,416 USDT routed to Coinbase Prime deposit addresses, alongside 643,034 DAI sent to an unlabelled wallet. While the bitcoin portion of those holdings was not part of the latest sweep, traders monitor government-linked addresses closely because outbound flows historically coincide with planned liquidations. Combined with the Irish seizure, the day delivered a reminder that sovereign-held cryptocurrency reserves continue to grow, and continue to move, even during heightened market volatility.

Bitcoin trades at $77,543 with a market cap of roughly $1.55 trillion after a modest 0.93% daily gain. Immediate support sits at $76,825, with deeper cushions at $75,080 and $72,673; resistance starts at $78,460 before the heavier $80,476 and $82,905 zones. RSI at 47.8 leaves the asset in neutral-to-soft territory, and a bearish MACD signal alongside a sideways trend argues for caution near the upper band. A reclaim of $78,460 on rising volume would validate the bullish case toward $80,500; a daily close beneath $76,825 likely opens the path to the $75K handle and invalidates the recovery thesis.