Bitcoin hovered around $92,000 on Friday after another failed attempt to break above $93,000 overnight, extending the choppy, directionless structure that has defined the past several sessions.
The move reinforces the same pattern that has held since late November of sellers defending the mid-$93,000s, buyers stepping in near $91,000, and neither side gaining enough momentum to establish a clear trend.
The one-month chart shows BTC still locked inside a descending structure from early November’s highs, with the latest rebound producing another lower high. Price peaked near $93,500 before rolling over, keeping the broader corrective pattern intact.
Momentum remains soft, and intraday recovery attempts are fading quickly — a sign that liquidity is still thin above current levels. A clean break below $91,000 would expose the next support pocket at $90,000–$90,500, while bulls need to reclaim $93,200 to invalidate the short-term downtrend.
Large caps were mixed heading into the weekend. Ether traded around $3,150 after modest overnight losses, while solana slipped 4% and XRP fell nearly 5%. Cardano was down about 2%. Market-wide capitalization added roughly 1% in the past 24 hours to sit near $3.2 trillion, continuing a slow recovery that began nearly two weeks ago following a seven-week downturn.
ETH led major assets over the past week with gains of more than 5%. Zcash also outperformed with a strong move earlier in the session.
ETF flows showed clear divergence. Spot bitcoin products saw net outflows of $14.9 million, while ether funds recorded a $140.2 million inflow, suggesting fresh capital rotated from BTC into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Liquidation data across the past day shows BTC with nearly $45 million in long liquidations and $50.7 million in shorts. ETH, meanwhile, saw over $103 million in short-side liquidations — a sign that traders betting against ether were caught leaning the wrong way as volatility picked up.
Macro data added a layer of uncertainty. U.S. ADP payrolls fell by 32,000 in November, well below expectations, signaling faster cooling in the labor market. Wage growth slowed and futures markets now assign close to a 90% probability of a December rate cut.
The dollar index swung sharply as traders adjusted their rate expectations, while risk markets broadly saw volatility expand.
FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said bitcoin’s brief test of $94,000 earlier in the session met “not yet too aggressive” resistance from sellers, adding that the market may not face firmer pushback until the $98,000–$100,000 zone.
He noted that the reaction at higher levels will help determine whether a more durable recovery is forming or whether recent gains are simply corrective.
Elsewhere, Bitunix analysts said the market has entered a “composite phase of macroeconomic turning-point expectations plus internal capital rotation within crypto,” pointing to ETF flows and uneven liquidation patterns as evidence of divergence in risk appetite.
They expect a continuation of structurally volatile, range-bound trading until bitcoin either holds above $93,000 or breaks below $90,500.
Institutional developments helped support broader sentiment. Vanguard opened access to crypto ETF trading for clients earlier this week, and Bank of America told institutional customers they may allocate 1%–4% of portfolios to digital assets. The CME launched a VIX-style implied volatility index for bitcoin futures, with versions for ether, solana and XRP to follow.
