Why the Bitcoin Market Is Stuck—and the Key Metric That Could Change It: CryptoQuant CEO

Following bitcoin’s euphoric rally on Sunday, the leading crypto asset has returned to levels below the $84,000 range, recording a 10% decline in the last 24 hours. Market experts have attributed this decline to the lack of positive sentiment among United States investors.

Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of the market analytics platform CryptoQuant, believes the bitcoin market will continue to struggle until sentiment improves among U.S. investors.

Bitcoin Market is Slow

Ju stated in a previous tweet that BTC whales on the largest American crypto exchange, Coinbase, led the surge on Sunday. Their efforts were evident in the Coinbase Premium Index, which surged from -0.05 to 0.15 as bitcoin’s value jumped by nearly $10,000 within three hours.

Bitcoin’s rally from $85,166 to $94,590 was triggered by United States President Donald Trump’s announcement of the creation of a strategic crypto reserve, including BTC, ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL). Before the rally, BTC and the broader crypto market had struggled, with the leading digital asset plummeting to the $78,000 range for the first time since November 2024.

Currently, BTC has erased all gains recorded on Sunday and was trading around $83,000 at the time of writing. The Coinbase Premium Index has retracted its steps and fallen back to -0.072, a level lower than the range recorded before the rally on Sunday.

It is worth mentioning that a high Coinbase Premium Index signals high demand for BTC among U.S. investors, while a plunge in the metric indicates lower demand.

Bull Cycle Still Intact

The CryptoQuant founder noted that while the current market sentiment is entirely different from late last year when the Coinbase Premium Index mostly hovered above 0, the bull cycle is still intact.

According to Ju, the market is seeing no significant on-chain activity, fundamentals remain strong, and key indicators are neutral. Additionally, more Bitcoin mining rigs are coming online, indicating that miners are not capitulating. However, the possibility that the bull cycle could end at this phase still remains.

“If the cycle ends here, it’s an outcome no one wanted—not old whales, mining companies, TradFi, or even Trump. (FYI, the market doesn’t care about retail.)” the analyst stated.