Monday Market Brief: Bitcoin holds its trend as leverage is cleared on both sides

Bitcoin closed the week at $83,800, down 3.1% from the previous weekly close of $86,501. The decline did not break the trend. It was the fourth consecutive weekly close above the 50-week moving average, which now sits near $77,200. Price remains about 8.6% above that line.

The range has also become clearer. For three consecutive weeks, the weekly high has stalled near $87,000. Last week's low, at $80,347, came on Thursday 8 October. Bitcoin has now spent a month between roughly $80,000 and $87,000. It is no longer in the bearish regime of the summer, when it traded near $63,000. It has not yet shown the conviction of a new uptrend either.

Participation thinned. Bitfinex BTC/USD volume fell to 4,324 BTC over the week, 38% below the previous week and the lowest since early August. On Binance, BTC/USDT spot volume reached $8.2 billion, down from $9.4 billion a week earlier.

Institutional flows turned sharply negative. US spot crypto ETFs and ETPs recorded $1.234 billion of net outflows over the week. Bitcoin products lost $678.9 million, reversing the previous week's $241 million inflow. Wednesday 7 October alone accounted for $484.9 million, the largest single-day Bitcoin ETF outflow since June. Fidelity's FBTC lost $380 million over the week and ARK's ARKB $207 million, while BlackRock's IBIT was flat. Ether products lost $542.2 million, extending the divergence noted last week.