Bitcoin recently broke above the $111,000 mark, setting a new all-time high. However, data across major exchanges suggests that traders are growing increasingly wary of a sustained rally.
CoinGlass data indicate that over 53% of Bitcoin positions are currently short, meaning a majority of traders are betting on a price drop. By contrast, just 47.43% of active positions are long.
Most Traders Turn Bearish Despite Bitcoin’s Recent All-Time High
The pattern is mirrored on Binance, where short trades make up 54.05% of open interest, compared to 45.95% for longs.
The sentiment shift is reinforced by the latest move from prominent crypto whale James Wynn, who reversed his bullish stance after a multi-million dollar loss.
The trader closed his long exposure at a loss of $13.39 million, with liquidation unfolding in under an hour on May 25.
He has since opened a short position of 3,523 BTC—valued at approximately $377 million—at an entry price of $107,128. The new trade carries a liquidation threshold near $118,380.
James Wynn Bitcoin Bet on Hyperliquid. Source: X/EmberCN
Market analysts have suggested that Wynn’s pivot reflects broader signs of exhaustion in the current bull cycle.
According to blockchain analytics firm Alhpractal, short-term holders (STHs) have begun distributing coins. Historically, a decline in STH supply often signals that Bitcoin is approaching a local top.
The firm noted that the Short-Term Holder Realized Price currently stands at $94,500, which is the last strong support before losses set in.
Alphractal stated that while Bitcoin previously hit record highs under similar conditions in 2021, it warned that the current cycle may be nearing exhaustion.
It added that several macro indicators and historical halving trends point to a possible correction after October 2025.
Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see how Bitcoin (BTC) is faring against public companies, precious metals, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) on metrics of total assets by market capitalization. The pioneer crypto is proving formidable, taking the stage as a tech stock proxy to ‘dynamic hedge’ against equities and US Treasury risk.
Bitcoin Surpassed Google in Market Cap
Amidst renewed optimism, Bitcoin has surpassed Google, effectively joining the top five assets on market cap metrics.
According to data on companiesmarketcap.com, which tracks over 10,436 firms, Bitcoin is now the fifth most valuable asset after GOLD, Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Nvidia (NVDA). As of this writing, it boasts a market cap of $1.86 trillion.
This growth comes as Bitcoin progressively gains attention as a hedge against traditional finance (TradFi) and US Treasury risk, which aligns with the most recent US Crypto News publication. As BeInCrypto reported, experts say Bitcoin’s number one purpose in a portfolio is to hedge against risks to the existing financial system.
In contrast, Gold is losing appeal after recently establishing a new all-time high (ATH). While President Trump’s tariffs catapulted Gold to new heights, there appears to be a capital rotation as investors’ appetite for risk grows.
“Bitcoin has surged past the prior $88,800 technical ceiling, clearing the psychological $90,000 mark to trade at an eye-watering $93,500. Meanwhile, Gold has slid 6 percent, reflecting a renewed appetite for risk and a clear rotation into digital assets,” QCP Capital analysts said.
According to analysts, institutions are no longer testing the waters of crypto. Instead, they are diving in headfirst. Based on this outlook, BeInCrypto contacted Standard Chartered Head of Digital Assets Research Geoff Kendrick, who forecasted a new ATH for Bitcoin price.
Standard Chartered Reiterates Next Bitcoin ATH
According to Kendrick, the increasing 10-year US Treasury term premium, now at a 12-year high, correlates with an increase in Bitcoin price. The term premium is the additional yield investors demand to hold a long-term bond instead of a series of shorter-term bonds.
“While correlations vary over time, the relationship between Bitcoin and the term premium is pretty solid, especially since the start of 2024. This relationship shows that Bitcoin has lagged the term premium increase in recent weeks,” Kendrick told BeInCrypto.
According to the analyst, this lag likely reflects the previous narrative that tariffs are hurting tech stocks and Bitcoin trading, such as Mag7 stocks.
“This could be what is needed for the next all-time high, and on that, I reiterate my current forecasts for Bitcoin, of 200k end-2025 and 500k end-2028,” he added.
As Bitcoin acts as a dynamic hedge, it remains to be seen whether it can flip Nvidia this quarter. Nevertheless, Kendrick does not rule it out, acknowledging that dominant narratives change and Bitcoin serves several purposes in portfolios.
Since US President Donald Trump assumed office, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped, settled, or paused lawsuits against prominent crypto entities left and right. In stark contrast to the previous administration’s leadership under Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC seems to be parting from its previous crackdown on digital assets.
In an interview with BeInCrypto, Nick Puckrin, Founder of The Coin Bureau, and Hank Huang, Chief Executive Officer at Kronos Research, highlighted the substantial election influence the crypto industry had over Trump’s candidacy as a contributing factor to the SEC’s looser stance on crypto.
The SEC’s Approach Under Trump
The SEC has experienced a clear shift in its approach to crypto lawsuits under Trump’s presidency. Its move away from the aggressive enforcement tactics of its previous leadership has largely characterized this shift.
“When President Donald Trump won the US election, the crypto industry rejoiced. Finally, the ‘regulation by enforcement’ era, which the SEC under the leadership of Gary Gensler was so famous for, was about to come to an end. And the new administration didn’t disappoint. Within just a couple of weeks of Trump’s inauguration, the revamped SEC started dropping lawsuits against crypto firms left, right and center,” Puckrin said.
Two weeks ago, the SEC officially dropped its appeal and XRP lawsuit against Ripple Labs, ending a five-year legal battle. The Commission had originally accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion through XRP sales.
“After more than four years in limbo, the SEC has officially decided that XRP is not a security (though what it is instead remains to be seen). This case has been weighing heavily on XRP – the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of roughly $130 billion– so its resolution is a major win,” Puckrin added.
The wider crypto community celebrated the outcome, with many arguing that it will set a precedent for how digital assets are classified in the US. This prediction is warranted, given that the SEC has been on a lawsuit-dropping spree.
The SEC has also dropped several ongoing investigations against OpenSea, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, Kraken, and Gemini. It has also asked a federal court to issue a 60-day pause over its litigation against Binance. Meanwhile, the Commission settled its investigation into ConsenSys over its Ethereum software products.
These lawsuits surfaced in parallel to a series of crypto-friendly measures meant to foster greater innovation and curb potential regulatory suffocation that had existed during the Biden era.
Will New Leadership Define Clear Crypto Regulations?
A day after Trump assumed office, SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda announced the creation of a dedicated crypto task force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. The task force was reportedly designed to resolve long-standing ambiguities in the regulatory treatment of digital assets.
In all SEC crypto lawsuits, Commissioner Uyeda has implemented a strategy prioritizing industry engagement to develop regulatory frameworks that balance innovation and investor protection.
Meanwhile, Trump strategically nominated Paul Atkins, a crypto-curious, regulation-light candidate, to replace Gensler as head of the SEC. Just this week, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance Atkins’ nomination to the full Senate.
Now, only a stone’s throw away from becoming SEC Chair, Atkins is expected to loosen regulatory oversight on crypto.
“With the establishment of a new Task Force and key appointees like Paul Atkins fostering innovation, Trump’s strategic move to create a Bitcoin reserve within the government further underscores his commitment to supporting the industry. The future of crypto regulations will be focused on less oversight and the beginning of a delicate but promising thaw in the regulatory landscape,” Huang added.
Though some say Trump’s handling of crypto affairs has resulted in a never-before-seen triumph, others are weary that his increasing involvement in the industry has turned out to be a recipe for disaster.
The Impact of Crypto Donations on Regulations
Several industry leaders went to great lengths to ensure that Trump became America’s 47th president. Millions of dollars in donations from crypto firms throughout Trump’s campaign illustrated these efforts.
According to a Public Citizen report, over $119 million from crypto corporations went into influencing the 2024 federal elections, largely through Fairshake, a non-partisan super PAC backing pro-crypto candidates and opposing skeptics.
Crypto corporations donated over $119 million to the 2024 federal elections. Source: Public Citizen
Coinbase and Ripple, among others who stand to profit, directly provided over half of Fairshake’s funding. The remaining funds mostly came from billionaire crypto executives and venture capitalists. Notable contributions included $44 million from the founders of Andreessen Horowitz, $5 million from the Winklevoss twins, and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
So far, big crypto’s spending strategy is paying off with a more favorable environment.
Without a clear framework to guide the crypto industry following these dropped lawsuits, this lax approach risks being short-lived. Ultimately, this could tarnish long-term crypto adoption.
“Somehow, all these victories feel somewhat hollow after the reputation of the crypto industry has been tarnished by the billions of dollars in combined losses from meme coin scams. Meanwhile, Hayden Davis, the mastermind behind LIBRA, continues to launch fraudulent meme tokens, despite being on the Interpol wanted list,” he said.
A 2024 report by Web3 intelligence platform Merkle Science revealed that meme coin rug pulls cost investors over $500 million. The February LIBRA incident showed how this trend was carried over to 2025. Nansen data revealed that 86% of investors lost $251 million, while insiders pocketed $180 million in profits.
Though crypto scammers may be charged with related crimes like wire fraud or money laundering, rug pulling is legal. Better said, it’s unaccounted for. No regulation holds crypto insiders responsible for meme coin scams.
“As crypto becomes an ever more mainstream asset class, consumers need to be protected against those who choose to use it for nefarious purposes. One way to do this is through education, and that’s our job as an industry. But deterring scams and extractive behavior is the job of the regulators. And it’s time they stepped up to the task,” Puckrin told BeInCrypto.
If the SEC doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to curb the consequences that meme coin scams can produce, it will result in an enormous setback for the industry.
Comprehensive Regulation Beyond Dropped Lawsuits
Puckrin illustrated the need for heightened regulatory clarity in crypto by drawing attention to the way the SEC penalizes insider trading in the context of traditional investing.
“In traditional investing, insider trading is a serious crime. In the US, it’s punishable by fines of up to $5 million for individuals and prison sentences up to 20 years. Similarly, federal penalties for engaging with illegal gambling activities include up to five years in prison. Perpetrators of memecoin scams must be punished with the same level of severity, because the result is the same: manipulating markets and cheating unsuspecting investors out of their savings,” he said.
Puckrin clarified, however, that the issue isn’t solely about penalizing fraudsters. Just as the SEC’s past overregulation hindered the industry, the current lack of meme coin rules creates an environment where new scams and exploitative schemes can easily flourish.
“Yes, the removal of lawsuits is great news for blockchain innovation, but something needs to replace it. Indeed, serious cryptocurrency firms have never advocated for an unregulated Wild West. What they want is clarity and rules that are fit for the nascent blockchain industry – not just a copy-and-paste of existing financial regulations that simply don’t work for crypto,” he said.
Although the Trump administration has only been in place for four months, the clock is ticking, and meaningful change takes time.
Unanswered Questions Loom
Puckrin expressed concern over the current administration’s prioritization of lawsuit dismissals instead of working faster to implement transcendental crypto regulation.
“My concern is that regulators will keep kicking the can down the road with crypto regulation, having gained the approval of the industry for dropping the many lawsuits that were stifling its growth. And this is incredibly dangerous,” he told BeInCrypto.
Meanwhile, critical questions that only the SEC can define remain unanswered.
“What are memecoins and who will ensure another LIBRA fiasco doesn’t happen? Are utility altcoins now commodities and if so, will the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulate them? And, importantly, what do we do about compensating investors who have lost billions to crypto fraud?” Puckrin concluded.
The SEC’s current direction promises a regulated renaissance or a breeding ground for future crises.
With billions lost and critical questions unanswered, the future of crypto hinges on whether the regulatory body will translate its recent shift into a lasting framework that fosters innovation without sacrificing investor protection.
On Tuesday, Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded net outflows, snapping a three-day streak of inflows that had brought in over $1 billion.
With uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision, institutional investors appear to be reducing their exposure in anticipation of increased market volatility.
Institutions Pull Back from BTC ETFs as Fed Decision Looms
BTC spot ETFs saw net outflows of $85.64 million on Tuesday, marking a shift in sentiment among institutional investors just ahead of today’s US Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
Total Bitcoin Spot ETF Net Inflow. Source: SosoValue
The outflows came after three consecutive days of strong inflows, totaling over $1 billion, into these BTC-backed funds. This suggests a pullback as market participants prepare for potential volatility surrounding today’s FOMC announcement.
It can also be seen as a strategic step to avoid short-term losses in the event of an unfavorable policy signal or unexpected market reaction.
Despite the ETF outflows, on-chain data reveals a spike in spot net inflows today. This indicates that while institutional players may be reducing their ETF exposure, they could be rotating capital into direct spot positions, possibly to capitalize on short-term price swings both before and after the Fed’s announcement.
According to Coinglass, BTC’s spot net inflows sit at $9.72 million. When an asset sees spot inflows, the number of its coin or tokens purchased and moved into spot markets has increased, indicating rising demand.
This points to surging accumulation among BTC spot market participants, a trend which can drive price appreciation if buying pressure remains.
Bitcoin Rises on Buyer Strength
BTC trades at $96,679 at press time, noting a 2% surge over the past day. The coin’s positive Balance of Power (BoP) reflects the steady rise in spot buying activity ahead of the FOMC meeting. As of this writing, this is at 0.10.
This indicator measures the strength of buyers versus sellers by comparing the closing price to the trading range over a specific period. When its value is positive, buyers dominate the market, suggesting bullish momentum and upward pressure on an asset’s price.
If BTC demand rockets and market conditions remain favorable post-FOMC meeting, it could climb toward $102,080.
