Bitcoin Nears $90K Milestone as ETF Momentum Falters

Bitcoin flirts with the $90,000 threshold—but the ETF engine powering its ascent is sputtering.

The Price Push

Digital gold is knocking on the door of a major psychological barrier. The climb toward $90,000 has traders buzzing, yet the rally feels increasingly solo. The institutional on-ramps that were supposed to guarantee a smooth ride? They're losing steam.

The ETF Letdown

Exchange-traded funds were hailed as the gateway for Wall Street's billions. Now, net inflows are drying up—fast. It's the classic finance play: hype the new asset class, make the initial fee-driven push, then quietly pull back and watch the retail crowd hold the bag. Where's the promised tidal wave of 'smart money'? Seems some whales prefer testing the waters from the shore.

The king of crypto is charging ahead, but its most-touted support system is waving a caution flag. The market's next move hinges on whether Bitcoin can sustain its altitude without the ETF jet fuel—or if gravity, and Wall Street's fickle appetite, finally kicks in.

In brief

• Bitcoin holds around $90,000, but ETF flows experience a sharp reversal.
• In just three days, Bitcoin ETFs recorded $398 million in withdrawals.
• This correction comes after a start to the year marked by over one billion dollars in inflows.This correction comes after a start to the year marked by over one billion dollars in inflows.
• Institutions now seem to favor solid projects, generating concrete revenues and real adoption.

ETFs between initial euphoria and unexpected retreat

The new year had actually started well for bitcoin, as ETFs attracted $646M on the very first day of trading.

The market responded with enthusiasm. According to Farside Investors data, $1.1 billion in net inflows were recorded during the first two days of ETF trading in January. This surge pushed bitcoin to a weekly high of $94,458 as early as Monday.

However, starting Wednesday, the trend reversed with three consecutive days of outflows, peaking on Thursday with $398 million in withdrawals. These data reveal a rapid reversal in institutional positions, tempering the initial enthusiasm.

Here are the key figures of this sequence :

• + $1.1 billion inflows on January 2 and 3 ;
• $94,458 reached by BTC the following Monday ;
• $398 million in withdrawals on Thursday, January 4 ;
• Three consecutive days of outflows recorded between Wednesday and Friday ;
• Current BTC price : $90,527.

These volatile flows reflect a still unstable dynamic. Far from signaling a long-term buy, this initial wave seems marked by tactical arbitrage after the holidays, possibly related to liquidity constraints or quick profit-taking.

Thus, it calls into question the idea that spot ETFs alone constitute a solid support base for the market. Institutional investors certainly have the means to MOVE the market, but their intentions are not always clear nor aligned with a durable accumulation strategy.

Institutions sort the solid projects

Beyond the visible fluctuations on Bitcoin and its ETFs, a deeper trend crosses the crypto ecosystem: a massive repricing of altcoins.

Jamie Coutts, lead analyst at Real Vision, sees it as a qualitative correction : “revaluation of the strongest LAYER 1 protocols and blockchains, in terms of network adoption and fundamentals, even as a multi-year cycle of institutional capital inflow begins,” he wrote on X.

In clear terms, last year acted as a filter: DeFi tokens lost 67 % of their value on average, and smart contract blockchain tokens 66 %. This decline is not a generalized disengagement, but rather a severe selection by professional investors.

In this repositioning logic, investment criteria change. Attention no longer focuses on promising narratives, but on concrete on-chain performance. According to the Nansen platform, solana generated $585 million in revenue in one year, ahead of Tron ($576M), making it one of the most profitable blockchains by fees.

Nicolai Sondergaard, analyst at Nansen, observes that “Solana ETFs continue to record capital inflows, but this is not fully reflected in on-chain metrics. Ethereum, on the other hand, benefits from rotations of some actors moving from bitcoin to ETH.” In other words, while some protocols still attract capital in secondary markets, on-chain data sometimes tell a different story.

The slowdown in capital keeps bitcoin waiting, suspended between institutional repositioning and technical uncertainty. Without an immediate catalyst, the market seems to be testing its own resilience, listening for the next macroeconomic or sectoral signals.

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