Bitcoin (BTC) Taker Buy Ratio on OKX Rises to 1.7

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin (BTC) showed a burst of aggressive spot demand, with the taker buy/sell ratio on OKX briefly reaching about 1.7, according to on-chain and exchange-flow analytics reviewed by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju. He argues the current cycle delivered the largest profit-taking opportunity yet for veteran holders, but the selling was absorbed by a new set of buyers: spot ETFs and digital-asset treasury companies. That marks a structural shift for the Bitcoin market, where regulated balance sheets replaced exchange traders as the main counterparty. Ki also says the market is working through a deleverage period after unrealized gains fed futures leverage. Binance users’ realized price has risen toward about $60,000, while the renewed taker strength hints at early positioning rather than a confirmed bottom.

The options market points to a narrower near-term risk horizon. Glassnode’s analysis of Bitcoin derivatives shows one-week at-the-money implied volatility fell to roughly 26%, while six-month volatility remained near 39%, leaving a steeper term structure. That gap suggests traders are less worried about immediate shocks but still demand protection further out. Open interest is clustering around defined strikes, with negative gamma concentrated below $60,000 and positive gamma building near $70,000. In practice, a slide toward the lower band could accelerate because market makers would chase downside hedges, while advances toward $70,000 may become more muted. The $60,000-$70,000 zone therefore frames the next directional sequence.

Peter Schiff intensified his critique of Strategy, warning that Michael Saylor may need to sell substantially more Bitcoin and MSTR common stock to support the company’s STRC preferred shares. Schiff said STRC was still trading below $95 despite asset sales and buybacks, and he urged investors to “sell both.” The remarks follow Strategy’s sale of 1,690 BTC for roughly $108.6 million last week, with proceeds used to repurchase about 1.15 million STRC shares. The company also sold around $653 million of MSTR stock to bolster dollar reserves. Saylor has framed STRC as central to Strategy’s digital-credit effort, but Schiff describes the preferred instrument as an albatross that could force continued dilution and coin sales.

Price action through the week stayed defensive despite supportive macro prints. Bitcoin repeatedly failed around $65,000, with a Monday push capped near $65,400 before sellers drove the token to $63,800. Later rebounds to $64,400 and $64,000 were also rejected, and the latest breakdown pushed price to a 10-day low of $62,500. Weekly losses approached 4%, while market capitalization was cited at $1.255 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance slipped to 56.1% as several altcoin names, including SOL, BNB, TRX, XMR, CC and LINK, stayed green. Strategy’s chief executive indicated that accumulation will resume, but the market first had to absorb continued corporate selling and a bear-market lower-high structure that kept sellers in control.

Technical compression adds another layer of uncertainty. Over the past week, Bitcoin moved inside a tight $63,000-$65,000 band and traded just below its lower edge, while Bollinger Bands narrowed sharply. That squeeze often precedes an expansion in volatility, whether toward an all-time-high advance or a sharp drawdown, but it does not choose the direction. Prior episodes have produced opposite outcomes: a monthly squeeze in March preceded a retreat from about $75,000 to $65,000, whereas a compression near $95,000 in May of last year preceded a push beyond $110,000. The same note also flagged Ethereum as a potential accumulation zone and warned that Cardano’s momentum was fading, but the immediate Bitcoin signal is range resolution, not trend confirmation.

Grayscale’s research team maintains that the pullback has not broken the longer-term institutional thesis. It identifies three forces still supporting demand: expanding government deficits, deeper financial-institution participation, and clearer regulation. The asset manager argues that regulated wrappers such as spot ETFs have lowered operational barriers for pensions, asset managers and family offices, allowing them to gain exposure without direct custody. It also points to Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply as a scarce alternative when fiscal discipline is in question. Even during recent weakness, U.S. spot ETF inflows were cited as evidence that some larger investors used the dip to add exposure, separating strategic allocation from short-term sentiment.

COINOTAG’s proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine frames Bitcoin as range-bound with a bearish bias at $63,013. Immediate resistance at $63,082 scores 88/100, driven by Flip S→R, Pivot Point and Fibo 0.214 confluence, while support at $62,884 rates 78/100 from POC and Ichimoku Cloud Bottom. A daily close above $63,082 would invalidate the bearish setup and open $64,406, scored 73/100 by EMA 50 and Flip S→R. Failure to reclaim resistance keeps the downside active, with $61,676, scored 60/100, as the next demand zone. Funding at 0.0061%, $13.93 billion open interest and a 2.16 long/short ratio show longs remain crowded, while Fear and Greed at 34 signals fear rather than capitulation.