As attention shifts to altcoins, Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced a pause in the uptrend that has characterized the past month. Currently trading 3.8% below its record high of $99,540, questions are raised about the sustainability of this growth and the possibility of a correction as the year draws to a close.

Chris Newhouse, director of research at Cumberland Labs, pointed out that while strong institutional buying pressure persists—particularly from companies like MicroStrategy, which continues to accumulate Bitcoin—there is a noticeable shift in capital flows. 

Newhouse noted that the broader crypto ecosystem is experiencing a “diversification of capital flows” from both institutional and non-institutional participants. 

This diversification indicates that as Bitcoin stabilizes, investor interest is increasingly shifting to other digital assets, including Ethereum (ETH) and XRP, which had previously lagged behind Bitcoin. 

Following the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, who has emerged as a crypto advocate, expectations for more favorable US regulations have risen. This has contributed to the massive rally in the XRP price, which has seen a 400% increase in the monthly time frame.

This optimism is also reflected in the record monthly net inflows into Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in November, which reached $6.5 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively. Bloomberg data shows that last Friday marked an all-time high for daily Ether ETF subscriptions.

In the options market, there has been a noticeable increase in downside protection for Bitcoin at later expiries this month. Meanwhile, BTC futures have exhibited moderate leverage, remaining relatively subdued after Bitcoin surpassed the $99,000 mark. 

According to Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33, on-chain data suggests that traders who purchased BTC in the $55,000 to $70,000 range are now actively realizing profits. “Profit-taking has been particularly intense with BTC trading north of $90,000,” Lunde remarked.

Jake Ostrovskis, a trader at Wintermute OTC, observed that “the market has taken a pause over the last 10 days as Bitcoin sits just under $100,000. Volatility levels have compressed slightly, with Bitcoin in the 64th percentile and Ether significantly higher at the 81st.” 

This volatility compression suggests a cautious sentiment among traders as they assess the market’s next moves, with the potential for a fresh wave of lower support levels to be retested in BTC’s price action, which could jeopardize the $100,000 milestone being reached by the end of the year.

Adding to the uncertainty in the market is a recent development reported by NewsBTC on Monday that nearly $2 billion worth of BTC previously confiscated from the Silk Road marketplace has been moved from US government wallets to Coinbase. 

Such moves often spark speculation among traders, as similar moves by the US government to massively liquidate its holdings contributed to the downtrend in the second and third quarter of the year, when BTC fell over 20% in two consecutive months. 

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $94,480, down 0.5% over the past 24 hours.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

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