Bitcoin Steadies Near $64K as Spot Buying Returns

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin (BTC) steadied near $64,000 this week as spot-driven demand began replacing the short-covering that dominated June's rebound. After climbing from the $63,000–$64,000 zone toward $65,000–$66,000, the market absorbed profit-taking and settled back around $64,000. Our reading of the order flow is that the more meaningful shift was structural: spot buying pressure improved across major exchanges, and US spot Bitcoin ETF vehicles began drawing inflows again, with demand for BTC outpacing most altcoins. Long-term holders and whales continued accumulating, absorbing coins sold by shorter-term traders. Sentiment moved from June's extreme pessimism toward cautious optimism, though a confirmed spot-led uptrend still needs sustained US demand.

JPMorgan analysts said Bitcoin's outlook now carries encouraging signs, pointing specifically to Strategy's move to strengthen its cash reserves. The company lifted dollar holdings from about $2.55 billion to roughly $3 billion, a buffer sufficient to cover around 20 months of preferred-share dividends and easing concern that it might sell Bitcoin to fund those payments. Analysts also noted that leveraged Strategy-linked exchange products logged a seventh consecutive week of steady net inflows, driven largely by retail. They added that CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual contracts recorded positive flows even while spot ETFs saw net outflows, which they read as evidence that underlying institutional demand is quietly improving.

Strategy president and chief executive Phong Le reaffirmed that the firm intends to remain a long-term Bitcoin buyer and “will not exit,” despite recently selling more than $215 million in BTC. He said debt-related risks would only become a genuine concern if Bitcoin fell to roughly $8,000 to $10,000, arguing the balance sheet remains secure at present levels. Strategy raised about $467 million through a common-stock offering last week, using the proceeds to build its cash position toward the $3 billion mark. The comments were aimed at reassuring investors that the company's leverage is manageable and that its accumulation strategy stays intact despite the recent tactical sales.

Research from CoinShares suggested Bitcoin has likely reached or approached its current cycle low, though head of research James Butterfill cautioned that a major rally remains unlikely in the near term. Without a meaningful shift in Federal Reserve policy, he argued, a sustained move above $80,000 — still well below the asset's all-time high — is improbable, and broader sentiment stayed cautious in what still resembles a bear market mindset. He noted digital asset investment products flipped to net inflows after eight straight weeks of outflows, with roughly $415 million entering over two days following softer-than-expected US CPI and PPI readings. Most of that capital went into Bitcoin products.

Tether froze four TRON-network wallet addresses holding roughly $131 million in USDT, citing links to sanctioned Iranian entities. On-chain data indicates the funds were tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran's central bank, and had largely moved through a payment provider and the exchange Bitso. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the Office of Foreign Assets Control had sanctioned multiple crypto wallets connected to Iran's central bank, involving more than $130 million. The Treasury framed the action as part of a broader effort to disrupt illicit Iranian financial flows and the regime's misuse of digital assets, adding that it would continue tracing the movement of sanctioned funds.

Traditional finance deepened its crypto footprint this week on two fronts. E*TRADE, owned by Morgan Stanley, completed the rollout of digital-asset spot trading, opening direct crypto access to its retail brokerage clients. Separately, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation launched its first limited live trading of tokenized real-world assets on July 15, testing operational and technical workflows in a production environment rather than a simulation. More than 50 institutions, including BlackRock, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, helped develop the service. The DTCC, which safekeeps around $114 trillion in assets, said its long-term goal is to migrate core instruments such as equities, ETFs and Treasuries onto digital infrastructure.

As of the latest read, Bitcoin trades near $63,939, up 0.43% on the day. COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine rates the $63,702 support at 83/100 (strong), driven by the confluence of the EMA 20, a high-volume node and the Ichimoku Tenkan, while the $67,037 resistance scores 70/100 on the Keltner upper band, Fibonacci 0.382 and EMA 100. Derivatives positioning stays mildly long: funding is a positive 0.0049%, open interest sits at $12.4 billion, and a long/short account ratio of 1.68 shows 62.7% of accounts long — a crowded stance against our Fear & Greed reading of 25 (extreme fear). A daily close below $61,765 would invalidate the near-term bullish case; reclaiming $67,037 opens the path toward $71,970.