Bitcoin’s failure to produce a big move toward $100,000 continued in the past 24 hours as the asset seems stuck at around $95,000 without any indication of where the next fluctuation wave will take it.

The altcoins have also been quite sluggish lately, with minor losses dominating the chart on a daily scale.

BTC Stalls at $95K

The primary cryptocurrency managed to break through its previous consolidation phase at the beginning of last week, when it pumped above $86,000, which served as the upper boundary of that channel. In the following days, the asset flew past $90,000 for the first time in over six weeks and skyrocketed to just shy of $96,000 last Friday. This became its highest price tag in two months.

Although it failed to breach that level and retraced slightly during the weekend, it remained high above the $90,000 support. The only brief slip came on Monday when BTC dropped to $93,000 but quickly recovered the losses.

The bulls went on the offensive but were stopped on a couple of occasions ahead of $96,000 despite the substantial inflows into the BTC ETFs. As such, bitcoin continues to trade sideways at around $95,000, currently sitting just inches below it.

Its market capitalization has stalled at $1.880 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts is well above 61%.

Alts Slightly in the Red

Most altcoins have lost some traction over the past 24 hours. LINK, AVAX, and XRP lead the adverse trend from the larger caps, with losses of up to 3.5% in the case of Chainlink.

ETH, DOGE, ADA, SUI, SHIB, HBAR, and BCH are also in the red, albeit in a slightly less painful manner.

The biggest losers from the top 100 alts include yesterday’s top performer, VIRTUAL, as well as TAO and TRUMP. The meme coin related to the US president has faced a lot of controversy as of late, including reports that the team behind it had started disposing of its holdings amid the price rally.

The total crypto market cap has declined slightly by around $15 billion since yesterday to $3.065 trillion on CG.

The BTC market is witnessing an unprecedented institutional stampede with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) crossing 600,000 BTC under management, potentially signaling a new chapter in the crypto asset’s maturation.

At the heart of this shift is an eight-day inflow streak that saw U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively absorb $3.9 billion into their holdings, according to FarSide data.

Institutional Juggernaut vs. Retail Retreat

According to insight from market intelligence platform Santiment, this sustained capital injection reflects a newfound investor confidence, emerging just as fears around global tariff uncertainty and geopolitical tension are starting to ease.

“Some traders may feel more relaxed now that the fear around new tariffs has calmed down. Others may be trying to ride the wave of crypto’s recent bounce back.” wrote Santiment analyst BrianQ.

One standout from the recent pattern is BlackRock’s IBIT. As stated in the report, liquidity, brand trust, and media saturation have converged to make it the preferred vehicle for institutions looking to gain BTC exposure.

On April 29 alone, it added 2,273 BTC worth nearly $217 million, pushing its total holdings to 601,209 BTC. It marked a symbolic and logistical milestone, cementing BlackRock’s position as the largest institutional Bitcoin holder, with the second-largest, Fidelity, at just under 200,000 BTC.

Still, despite the flood of institutional capital, Santiment’s report revealed a concerning trend: Bitcoin’s price is rising even though trading volumes are dropping, a classic bearish divergence that often foreshadows pullbacks.

This anomaly is particularly striking given Bitcoin’s surge to $95,066. Usually, such rallies are accompanied by swelling volumes, signaling widespread conviction. Instead, observers have noted that a narrow cohort of deep-pocketed investors has propped up the market, primarily ETF issuers and corporations like Strategy, while retailers remained sidelined.

Even though the ETF inflows mechanically increase demand since issuers must buy BTC to back shares, the fading volume suggests BTC’s recent rally lacks organic momentum.

“There’s a bit of a bearish divergence forming due to prices rising, but volume moving the opposite direction,” explained BrianQ. “This pattern usually suggests a rally might be getting weaker, since it’s not being supported by strong activity from traders.”

BTC’s Steady Climb

Nonetheless, Bitcoin is currently holding firm around $95,000 following a decisive breakout earlier in the month. Over the past 24 hours, it traded within a narrow band between $93,881 and $95,443, per data from CoinGecko.

On the weekly scale, the flagship cryptocurrency gained a modest 1.6%, which was enough to outpace the broader crypto market’s 1.3% rise in that period. Additionally, its 14-day and 30-day gains sit at 13.7% and 16.1% respectively, while remaining up more than 50% year-on-year.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls just got a major vote of confidence from one of crypto’s most provocative minds.

Speaking at the ongoing Token2049 conference in Dubai, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes doubled down on his audacious prediction that Bitcoin will hit $1 million by 2028.

A Bold Prediction

The Maelstrom CIO declared to a packed audience, “It’s time to go long everything,” urging them to pile into the flagship cryptocurrency as well as other stablecoins and traditional markets alike. For him, this isn’t just an investment thesis; it’s a macroeconomic inevitability.

His optimism is based on a cocktail of monetary policy shifts and economic instability in the United States. The crypto investor sees a likely return to money printing by the Federal Reserve spurred by fiscal deficits, tariff-fueled turmoil, and deteriorating bond markets that could dramatically inflate BTC’s value.

He compared current market conditions to the third quarter of 2022, a period that had been rife with fear. Back then, headlines were dominated by aggressive Fed rate hikes and cascading failures in the crypto sector, including the fall of FTX. However, the government’s stealthy injection of $2.5 trillion into the repo market helped keep risk assets, including crypto, alive.

Hayes sees a familiar pattern unfolding now, especially with President Donald Trump’s recent push for sweeping tariffs on U.S. trade partners. The move initially triggered economic shockwaves that sent markets into freefall before a three-month pause offered some relief. In the analyst’s view, Trump’s America First strategy will similarly unleash a liquidity storm.

His sentiments are reinforced by concerns that the U.S. central bank, despite its hawkish stance, will be forced to support Treasury markets indirectly, by either halting quantitative tightening or reducing bank reserve requirements.

“The Fed and banking system must step up to ensure a well-functioning Treasury market, which means Brrrr,” he quipped in a recent X post referencing the viral meme synonymous with rampant money printing.

Should these forecasts materialize, Hayes expects Bitcoin to respond as it has before, with a parabolic rally.

Bitcoin’s Steady Climb with Room to Run

While the former BitMEX CEO’s vision is providing the narrative fuel, BTC’s recent price action has offered the kindling. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $94,569, a slight 0.4% drop over the past 24 hours.

Over the last seven days, the uptick has also been quite small at about 1%. However, the broader uptrend is more visible across longer time frames, with the cryptocurrency rising 13.0% in the past two weeks and 15.4% over the last month.

On a year-to-year basis, Bitcoin has gained 49.2%, signaling long-term bullish momentum even against macro headwinds.