BTC price stampedes to $99.5K hours after record Bitcoin ETF outflow

Bitcoin ( BTC ) neared $100,000 on Dec. 21 after a “monster” BTC price bounce delivered snap upside.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC price starts weekend with sudden rebound

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it gained $7,000 in under 24 hours.

After liquidating leveraged long positions with a trip back to December lows near $92,000 , finally offered some relief as the weekend began.

Reaching highs of $99,500 on Bitstamp, the absence of institutional trading appeared to make little difference as bulls pushed for a reclaim of six figures.

The rebound came as buyers returned to largest US exchange Coinbase, which had previously spawned sell-side pressure.

“Coinbase buying a lot since lows,” popular trader Exitpump summarized in a post on X, contrasting buying volumes with those of Binance.

Bitcoin exchange volume data. Source: Exitpump/X

Fellow trader Superbro noted that the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) had acted as clean support for BTC/USD.

Source: SuperBro

On hourly timeframes, he eyed potential breakout signal in the form of an inverse head and shoulders construction — a classic pattern that can mark for short-term and long-term lows.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: SuperBro/X

Continuing, trading account Doctor Magic described a “scam” breakdown signal from Bitcoin’s relative strength index ( RSI ) indicator. 

RSI, an X post explained , could have been driven artificially low — an event that preceded previous periods of protracted BTC price upside.

“There is a reason I am obsessed about this RSI scam breakdown that I have been posting for a while now, it happened in every major leg up until the first local top,” he told followers, with a chart demonstrating the signal’s high price correlation.

BTC/USD 1-day chart with RSI data. Source: Doctor Magic/X

Daily RSI stood at 52 at the time of writing, preserving the crucial midpoint of 50 . As Cointelegraph reported, during Bitcoin bull markets, RSI commonly holds above the “overbought” 70 level for extended periods.

Too little, too late for Bitcoin ETFs

Bitcoin returning near $100,000 appeared bittersweet for investors in the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Related: Bitcoin whale support includes mid-$60K zone in new BTC price warning

On Dec. 20, the ETFs logged net outflows of nearly $300 million, data from sources including UK-based investment firm Farside Investors shows.

The largest of these, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), saw its largest net outflows on record at $72.7 million.

US spot Bitcoin ETF netflows (screenshot). Source: Farside Investors

Dec. 19 meanwhile saw the aggregate total outflow for the ETF products hit its own maximum of $671 million.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.