BTC is almost stuck at the 90k level. Even after the rate cut announcement, BTC surged to 94k, but due to cautious wording afterward, market risk appetite quickly shifted to risk aversion, pulling it back to around 90k. The buying power from major players, especially DAT-type companies, is also declining. What’s keeping Bitcoin pinned at 90k is what we’ve mentioned before—right now, crypto is almost entirely dominated by the options market. Deribit data shows that 90k is the hotspot for large options, which analysts love to call the ‘maximum pain point.’ To hedge risks, market makers (whales or institutions) will perform counter trades when prices deviate. As soon as the price rises, institutional hedging and profit-taking trades will quickly pull it back to 90k. Additionally, analysis firms like Glassnode believe that the average cost for short-term holders is as high as $110k, meaning that in the current panic-driven sentiment, every BTC price increase triggers short-term speculators selling to break even. It’s worth noting that since late November, there’s been a noticeable increase in large BTC deposits into exchanges. This has led to BTC facing resistance not only from options but also from short-term break-even selling. Without sustained and massive capital inflows, it’s almost impossible for BTC to achieve significant upward momentum.