Bitcoin rebounds above $64,000 after Strategy’s $216 million sale

Bitcoin climbed back above $64,000 after an early-week drop tied to Strategy’s $216 million BTC sale, a move that matters because one of the market’s best-known corporate holders has shown it can become a seller. Cointelegraph reported that buyers returned after the disclosure, but much of the action came from leveraged futures trading, which can make price moves sharper in both directions.

Bitcoin fell from nearly $64,000 on Sunday to around $62,000 on Monday, according to Cointelegraph. The selloff followed a Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure showing that Strategy sold 3,588 BTC, described by Cointelegraph as the company’s largest Bitcoin sale to date.

Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury holder, sold the coins to fund dividend payments, Cointelegraph reported. The company still has $1.25 billion of unused sale capacity, according to the same report, leaving traders to weigh whether more selling could follow.

The price action was shaped by the split between futures and spot markets. Futures are contracts that let traders bet on Bitcoin’s future price, often with borrowed money, while spot buying means purchasing the asset directly. A rally led mostly by futures can fade quickly if leveraged traders are forced out of their positions.

Cointelegraph reported that Sunday’s push toward $64,000 was driven almost entirely by futures activity. Net futures buying reached about $415 million for the day, including a four-hour stretch of roughly $687 million that forced the closing of about $33 million in short positions, or bets against Bitcoin. Spot flows during that session were slightly negative.

That setup reversed Monday morning. After Strategy’s filing, Bitcoin futures flows turned to about $456 million of net selling during one four-hour period, according to Cointelegraph. Liquidations, which happen when exchanges automatically close leveraged trades that lack enough collateral, hit both sides of the market: about $42 million in bullish positions and $49 million in bearish positions were closed.

The afternoon rebound had a broader base. Cointelegraph said futures buying totaled about $568 million, while spot buying reached about $143 million, marking the first meaningful cash-market support in days.

Hyblock data cited by Cointelegraph showed Bitcoin’s funding rate stayed positive for more than a week, including during Monday’s slide. The funding rate is the periodic payment between traders in perpetual futures markets, and a positive rate usually means traders betting on higher prices are paying those betting on lower prices. Cointelegraph also cited about $20.6 billion in open futures positions, meaning a large amount of unsettled leveraged exposure remains in the market.

The next macro checkpoint is the Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes, due Wednesday. Cointelegraph reported that markets were pricing a 75.6% chance that rates stay at 3.50% to 3.75% in July. The report said a more hawkish tone, meaning stronger concern about inflation and higher rates, could test crowded long positions, with Bitcoin levels around $62,300 to $62,800 above the market and $61,000 and $59,500 below identified as pressure zones.

This story draws on original reporting from Cointelegraph.