Bitcoin Prices Remain Range-Bound as Inflows Slow and Bond Sell-Off Looms

Bitcoin's price action has remained stuck in the $82,000 to $85,000 range, extending its sideways movement for over a week. The cryptocurrency briefly topped $85,000 on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation cooled bets on Fed rate hikes, but bulls couldn't hold the move. Analysts at Bitfinex pointed out that the pace of daily inflows needs to pick up for prices to continue rising.

The Bitcoin Absorption-to-Emission Ratio (BAER) has compressed from 25.6x on September 21 to 1.8x on September 29, according to Bitfinex. To clear the overhead supply of $84,000 to $86,500, the BAER needs to recover towards 5.0x, which would require a daily inflow of around $190 million.

Alex Kuptsikevich, chief analyst at FxPro, focused on macro factors and warned that the persistence of the bond sell-off is a worrying sign, capable of triggering a sell-off across all markets almost overnight. While some smaller coins like Stacks' STX token have seen impressive gains, the broader altcoin story remains selective.