Bitcoin stalls at $65K amid record tech sell-off
Bitcoin's repeated failure to clear $65,000 reflects broader market risk aversion as hedge funds dump tech stocks at a decade-high pace and geopolitical tensions keep oil elevated.
Bitcoin remained pinned below $65,000 on Monday, unable to sustain several breakout attempts as risk assets faced heavy macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds. The cryptocurrency's price action has been tightly constrained for the entire month of July, struggling to generate upward momentum despite increasingly bullish technical indicators on lower timeframes.
The crypto stall occurred alongside notable pressure in US equity markets, driven primarily by an aggressive institutional unwinding of technology positions. According to Goldman Sachs data cited by The Kobeissi Letter, hedge funds have sold information technology stocks in six of the last eight weeks. “This brings total 8-week sales to the largest in at least 10 years,” the report stated. Despite this historic selling, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were modestly higher at the time of writing, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% on the day.
Beyond the tech sector rotation, broader risk appetite was quashed by escalating tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices held firm above $80 per barrel as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed amid intensifying rhetoric between the US and Iran. The situation escalated further when US President Donald Trump used Truth Social over the weekend to demand Iran's inclusion in a broad sanctions package initially focused on Russia.
Despite these immediate headwinds, cryptocurrency traders argued that Bitcoin’s prolonged consolidation is actually building a foundation for a breakout. “The $65K level has capped price for the entirety of July so far,” trader Daan Crypto Trades observed. “But I do think the longer price spends here, the more likely the $65K level is to break. Especially with the higher lows being made over the past 3 weeks.” He identified the $67,000 mark as the level where BTC/USD would “break into a bullish market structure.”
Market participants widely attribute the current lack of volatility to seasonal trends. “The markets are in a summer break, it feels like,” analyst Michaël van de Poppe told his followers while discussing the broader crypto landscape. Van de Poppe set a near-term Bitcoin price target of between $67,500 and $69,000 for the coming weeks. He has also projected that August could catalyze a more aggressive push toward $80,000, a price point not seen since mid-May.
