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 recent sessions.
The move reinforces the same pattern that has held since late November: sellers defend the mid-$93,000 level, buyers intervene near $91,000, and neither side gains enough momentum to establish a clear trend.
The one-month chart shows that BTC is still stuck within a descending structure from early November highs, with the latest bounce producing another lower high. The price peaked near $93,500 before falling, keeping the broader corrective pattern intact.
Momentum remains weak and intraday recovery attempts are quickly fading, a sign that liquidity is still tight above current levels. A clear break below $91,000 would expose the next pocket of support between $90,000 and $90,500, while the bulls need to reclaim $93,200 to negate the near-term downtrend.
Large-cap stocks were mixed heading into the weekend. Ether traded around $3,150 after modest overnight losses, while solana fell 4% and XRP fell almost 5%. Cardano was down around 2%. The capitalization of the entire market increased by about 1% in the last 24 hours to stand near $3.2 trillion, continuing a slow recovery that began almost two weeks ago after a seven-week slowdown.
ETH led major assets over the past week with gains of over 5%. Zcash also outperformed with a strong move early in the session.
ETF flows showed a clear divergence. Bitcoin spot products recorded net outflows of $14.9 million, while ether funds recorded an inflow of $140.2 million, suggesting that fresh capital rotated from BTC to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Liquidation data from the last day shows BTC with almost $45 million in long liquidations and $50.7 million in short liquidations. Meanwhile, ETH saw more than $103 million in short liquidations, a sign that traders betting against ether were caught leaning the wrong way as volatility increased.
Macroeconomic data added a layer of uncertainty. ADP US payrolls fell by 32,000 in November, well below expectations, indicating a faster cooling in the labor market. Wage growth has slowed and futures markets now assign a near 90% chance of a rate cut in December.
The dollar index swung sharply as traders adjusted their rate expectations, while risk markets generally saw volatility increase.
FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said bitcoin’s brief test of $94,000 earlier in the session met “yet not too aggressive” resistance from sellers, adding that the market may not face a firmer pullback to the $98,000-$100,000 zone.
He noted that the reaction at higher levels will help determine whether a longer-lasting recovery is forming or if recent gains are simply corrective.
Separately, Bitunix analysts said the market has entered a “compound phase of macroeconomic inflection point expectations plus internal capital rotation within cryptocurrencies,” pointing to ETF flows and uneven liquidation patterns as evidence of divergence in risk appetite.
They expect a continuation of structurally volatile and range-bound trading until Bitcoin holds above $93,000 or falls below $90,500.
Institutional advances helped support broader sentiment. Vanguard opened access to crypto ETF trading to its clients earlier this week, and Bank of America told institutional clients they can allocate between 1% and 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.
