Bitcoin price holds above $102,000 as BlackRock leads fund inflows

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) traded relatively flat on Thursday, priced just above $102,200 (£76,989) — down around 1% on the day — as institutional investors resumed allocations into US-based spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Wednesday.

A total of nearly $320m flowed into the eleven US-listed bitcoin ETFs during the session, reversing Tuesday’s outflows. BlackRock’s (BLK) IBIT (IBIT) led the way, attracting $232.9m in inflows.

The return of institutional buying followed a day of net outflows totalling $96m on Tuesday, which coincided with bitcoin dipping to $101,429. Some investors appear to be waiting for a decisive break above the $105,000 mark before increasing exposure.

“Despite the pause, momentum remains firm and over 98% of bitcoin wallet addresses are in profit, and open interest stays above $30bn,” Nexo Dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Yahoo Finance UK.

“Futures activity has picked up, and options markets show growing demand for upside exposure, and for now, traders are focused on macro data as the next driver of direction.”

Altcoins mostly declined on Wednesday, paring gains from earlier in the week.

Ethereum (ETH-USD), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped 3.8% to $2,574.30.