Bitcoin struggles at $100K after a turbulent week; STRK, AB and UNI lead weekly gains

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The past week has been a turbulent one for Bitcoin, marked by sharp volatility and a broader market sentiment that remained firmly risk-averse.
A significant chunk of value was erased across the crypto landscape, with the total market cap briefly climbing above $3.6 trillion during the middle of the week before slipping to the lower end of the $3 trillion range, a level not seen in several months.
By late Friday in Asian trading hours, a few altcoins managed to hold on to modest double-digit gains supported by project-specific developments. However, most continued to trade in the red.
Market sentiment was bleak at best, with the crypto fear and greed index slipping into “extreme fear” levels at 16 on Friday.
Why is Bitcoin price down this week?
Bitcoin rallied to a weekly high of $106,562, fueled by early optimism following Donald Trump’s proposal to issue a $2,000 tariff dividend to most American adults.
The idea of redirecting tariff revenues toward direct payments and national debt reduction quickly sparked speculation about renewed retail interest in crypto markets.
Hopes were further lifted after the Senate advanced a long-delayed funding bill, signaling progress in ending the country’s prolonged government shutdown.
The early week surge drew fresh institutional flows, with several spot ETFs seeing renewed demand.
Prices climbed steadily as confidence returned briefly to the market. However, that sentiment began to unravel by midweek as geopolitical tensions escalated.
Reports that US authorities had seized nearly $13 billion worth of Bitcoin from China’s LuBian mining pool introduced a fresh wave of uncertainty.
Many traders grew uneasy over the prospect of retaliation from Beijing, especially with ongoing trade negotiations still unresolved.
Selling pressure mounted swiftly. ETF outflows picked up pace, reaching $869 million on Thursday alone after a $277 million drawdown the previous day.
Although the week’s cumulative outflows remained below the prior two weeks, the reversal in flows underscored growing doubt over Bitcoin’s near-term prospects.
Large holders also joined the exit, unloading coins worth over $45 billion in recent months.
Much of this selling came from investors disillusioned with Bitcoin’s continued underperformance relative to the broader market.
Doubts around a December interest rate cut added further weight. Market expectations for a rate reduction dropped sharply, with odds falling from above 90% to just 53% over a matter of days.
Crypto assets typically benefit from lower interest rates, so the repricing of expectations triggered another round of cautious positioning.
At the same time, cracks began to show in the corporate Bitcoin adoption narrative. Publicly listed firms that had previously leaned into Bitcoin treasury strategies saw their share premiums vanish.
Strategy Inc., led by Michael Saylor, saw its stock plunge more than 50% from its highs this year.
Its market net asset value dropped to parity, reflecting weak investor conviction. Other firms like Semler Scientific, MetaPlanet, and KindlyMD faced similar pressure.
Many have since paused Bitcoin purchases, with some possibly preparing to liquidate holdings to manage liabilities.
By the end of the week, Bitcoin slipped below the $100,000 psychological threshold and touched multi-month lows around $96,000, pressured by the aforementioned catalysts.
Can Bitcoin price recover?
In the upcoming trading sessions, Bitcoin’s ability to regain strength will largely depend on whether it can decisively reclaim the psychological support above $100,000.
Without a convincing move back above that level, sellers may continue to dominate unless a significant catalyst emerges to restore confidence and reset the market narrative.
On the seven-day liquidation heatmap, traders are closely watching clusters of long liquidations that began building up after Bitcoin crossed $105,000.

Bitcoin 7-day liquidation heatmap. Source: Coinglass.
The sharp drawdown toward the $96,000 range triggered a string of forced exits, most notably between the $99,000 and $101,000 levels.
These zones, previously seen as short-term support, have now flipped into areas of resistance.
Unless Bitcoin can absorb the remaining supply pressure from trapped longs in that range, upward moves may remain capped in the near term.
In terms of support areas, the strongest liquidity concentration appears around the $94,000 to $95,000 band.
This range has shown signs of buyer interest, with the liquidation heatmap revealing reduced sell pressure and brief consolidation attempts.
If this base holds, it could serve as a foundation for a gradual recovery. Otherwise, a clean break below $94,000 might trigger another wave of selling that pulls Bitcoin closer to the $91,000 to $92,000 region, where the next pocket of interest lies.
Meanwhile, any upward breakout would likely face resistance first at $98,000 and again near $101,000, both levels with visible liquidation clusters and prior order activity.
If price can slice through those zones, a return to the $104,000 range becomes plausible, especially if ETF inflows return or macro signals improve.
As long as buyers can prevent deeper downside breaches and macro conditions do not worsen further, there is still a chance for stabilization and slow rebuilding of the market structure.
However, the scenario could become more grim if funding outflows continue and large holders remain on the sidelines.
A loss of $94,000 on strong volume would open the door for a more extended correction that might erase much of the year’s gains and test investor conviction across the board.
Bitcoin price must remain above $94k
CryptoQuant’s CEO and founder Ki Young Ju agrees the broader bull market would remain intact as long as this $94,000 level holds.
That area is also the average cost basis of investors who bought Bitcoin in the past six to 12 months, according to Ju.

Bitcoin realized price. Source: ki Young Ju on X.
“Personally, I do not think the bear cycle is confirmed unless we lose that level. I would rather wait than jump to conclusions,” wrote Ju in a Nov. 14 X post alongside the following chart. See below.
However, not everyone is optimistic, especially those gauging market structure through classic distribution models.
As highlighted by well-followed analyst Ted Pillows, Bitcoin is currently unfolding within a textbook Wyckoff distribution pattern, and that could mean the asset is now entering the final phase of a prolonged top formation. See below.

Bitcoin Wyckoff Distribution schematic chart. Source: Ted Pillows.
If it continues to follow this path, the breakdown could deepen further, with sellers taking firmer control as price drifts away from previously defended support levels.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price was trading just over $97,000, after dropping over 3.5% over the past 7 days.
Top altcoins this week
Over the past 7 days, the altcoin market cap initially rose from $1.51 trillion to $1.54 trillion before plunging to $1.44 trillion, ending the week down by 4.6% as of press time.
Market sentiment toward the altcoin sector remained largely subdued throughout the period.
The Altcoin Season Index, which tracks altcoin performance relative to Bitcoin, fluctuated between 26 and 33 during the week before settling at 33 at press time.
Ethereum, the leading altcoin by market share, climbed as high as $3,600 earlier in the week before bears and profit-taking from investors pushed it down to a low of $3,100.
It later recovered slightly to settle around $3,200 by the end of the week, still marking a 3.1% decline over the seven-day period.
Other major altcoins by market cap, including BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Chainlink (LINK), all ended the week in the red, with losses ranging from 2% to as much as 9%.
XRP (XRP), however, broke away from the pack, rising 4.5% over the same period and trading at $2.30 when writing.
Starknet (STRK) took the spotlight among the top 100 leading crypto assets with gains of 44.5% while AB (AB) and Uniswap followed with 36.5% and 32.8% respectively.

Source: CoinMarketCap
Starknet: STRK rallied this week, supported by investor hype around StarkWare’s release of S two, a fully open source zero-knowledge prover designed for faster proof generation, improved privacy, and stronger decentralization.
The new prover enables advanced real-world use cases such as shielded DeFi trading, where transaction amounts and senders remain hidden while still preserving regulatory compliance.
This has drawn interest from privacy-focused investors who have been looking to capitalize on the recent surge in attention toward privacy-driven applications.
On-chain metrics show that more than 900 million STRK tokens and over 650 BTC are now staked on Starknet, marking increases of 45% and 60% over the past month.
As more assets are locked into the network, the ecosystem is beginning to demonstrate stronger security and deeper economic commitment from its users.
Meanwhile, DeFi protocols built on Starknet have collectively surpassed $276 million in total value locked, supported by an aggressive Bitcoin deposit rewards program and a fresh distribution campaign of 100 million STRK tokens aimed at attracting new liquidity and driving continued adoption across the network.
AB: For AB Chain’s native token, AB, the gains followed a partnership with Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial to deploy USD1 stablecoin on the AB Chain network.
The USD1 integration is designed to enrich the AB chain’s DeFi and payment ecosystem, leveraging the chain’s high-performance network.
Looking ahead, investor optimism has also been buoyed by AB Wallet’s roadmap, which includes USD1 yield features and additional value-added services.
Uniswap: Uniswap has recently introduced a new governance proposal titled “UNIfication,” which aims to reshape the token’s economics and incentivize long-term holders.
At the core of the proposal is a Protocol Fee Activation, which would turn on a fee switch that will divert a portion of trading fees from the Uniswap DEX to burn UNI tokens.
In addition, the proposal includes a one-time burn of 100 million UNI tokens from the Uniswap treasury.
Traders expect the updated tokenomics to introduce a steady deflationary pressure that could support UNI’s value over time.
The post Bitcoin struggles at $100K after a turbulent week; STRK, AB and UNI lead weekly gains appeared first on Invezz
Bitcoin struggles at $100K after a turbulent week; STRK, AB and UNI lead weekly gains

Share:

The past week has been a turbulent one for Bitcoin, marked by sharp volatility and a broader market sentiment that remained firmly risk-averse.
A significant chunk of value was erased across the crypto landscape, with the total market cap briefly climbing above $3.6 trillion during the middle of the week before slipping to the lower end of the $3 trillion range, a level not seen in several months.
By late Friday in Asian trading hours, a few altcoins managed to hold on to modest double-digit gains supported by project-specific developments. However, most continued to trade in the red.
Market sentiment was bleak at best, with the crypto fear and greed index slipping into “extreme fear” levels at 16 on Friday.
Why is Bitcoin price down this week?
Bitcoin rallied to a weekly high of $106,562, fueled by early optimism following Donald Trump’s proposal to issue a $2,000 tariff dividend to most American adults.
The idea of redirecting tariff revenues toward direct payments and national debt reduction quickly sparked speculation about renewed retail interest in crypto markets.
Hopes were further lifted after the Senate advanced a long-delayed funding bill, signaling progress in ending the country’s prolonged government shutdown.
The early week surge drew fresh institutional flows, with several spot ETFs seeing renewed demand.
Prices climbed steadily as confidence returned briefly to the market. However, that sentiment began to unravel by midweek as geopolitical tensions escalated.
Reports that US authorities had seized nearly $13 billion worth of Bitcoin from China’s LuBian mining pool introduced a fresh wave of uncertainty.
Many traders grew uneasy over the prospect of retaliation from Beijing, especially with ongoing trade negotiations still unresolved.
Selling pressure mounted swiftly. ETF outflows picked up pace, reaching $869 million on Thursday alone after a $277 million drawdown the previous day.
Although the week’s cumulative outflows remained below the prior two weeks, the reversal in flows underscored growing doubt over Bitcoin’s near-term prospects.
Large holders also joined the exit, unloading coins worth over $45 billion in recent months.
Much of this selling came from investors disillusioned with Bitcoin’s continued underperformance relative to the broader market.
Doubts around a December interest rate cut added further weight. Market expectations for a rate reduction dropped sharply, with odds falling from above 90% to just 53% over a matter of days.
Crypto assets typically benefit from lower interest rates, so the repricing of expectations triggered another round of cautious positioning.
At the same time, cracks began to show in the corporate Bitcoin adoption narrative. Publicly listed firms that had previously leaned into Bitcoin treasury strategies saw their share premiums vanish.
Strategy Inc., led by Michael Saylor, saw its stock plunge more than 50% from its highs this year.
Its market net asset value dropped to parity, reflecting weak investor conviction. Other firms like Semler Scientific, MetaPlanet, and KindlyMD faced similar pressure.
Many have since paused Bitcoin purchases, with some possibly preparing to liquidate holdings to manage liabilities.
By the end of the week, Bitcoin slipped below the $100,000 psychological threshold and touched multi-month lows around $96,000, pressured by the aforementioned catalysts.
Can Bitcoin price recover?
In the upcoming trading sessions, Bitcoin’s ability to regain strength will largely depend on whether it can decisively reclaim the psychological support above $100,000.
Without a convincing move back above that level, sellers may continue to dominate unless a significant catalyst emerges to restore confidence and reset the market narrative.
On the seven-day liquidation heatmap, traders are closely watching clusters of long liquidations that began building up after Bitcoin crossed $105,000.

Bitcoin 7-day liquidation heatmap. Source: Coinglass.
The sharp drawdown toward the $96,000 range triggered a string of forced exits, most notably between the $99,000 and $101,000 levels.
These zones, previously seen as short-term support, have now flipped into areas of resistance.
Unless Bitcoin can absorb the remaining supply pressure from trapped longs in that range, upward moves may remain capped in the near term.
In terms of support areas, the strongest liquidity concentration appears around the $94,000 to $95,000 band.
This range has shown signs of buyer interest, with the liquidation heatmap revealing reduced sell pressure and brief consolidation attempts.
If this base holds, it could serve as a foundation for a gradual recovery. Otherwise, a clean break below $94,000 might trigger another wave of selling that pulls Bitcoin closer to the $91,000 to $92,000 region, where the next pocket of interest lies.
Meanwhile, any upward breakout would likely face resistance first at $98,000 and again near $101,000, both levels with visible liquidation clusters and prior order activity.
If price can slice through those zones, a return to the $104,000 range becomes plausible, especially if ETF inflows return or macro signals improve.
As long as buyers can prevent deeper downside breaches and macro conditions do not worsen further, there is still a chance for stabilization and slow rebuilding of the market structure.
However, the scenario could become more grim if funding outflows continue and large holders remain on the sidelines.
A loss of $94,000 on strong volume would open the door for a more extended correction that might erase much of the year’s gains and test investor conviction across the board.
Bitcoin price must remain above $94k
CryptoQuant’s CEO and founder Ki Young Ju agrees the broader bull market would remain intact as long as this $94,000 level holds.
That area is also the average cost basis of investors who bought Bitcoin in the past six to 12 months, according to Ju.

Bitcoin realized price. Source: ki Young Ju on X.
“Personally, I do not think the bear cycle is confirmed unless we lose that level. I would rather wait than jump to conclusions,” wrote Ju in a Nov. 14 X post alongside the following chart. See below.
However, not everyone is optimistic, especially those gauging market structure through classic distribution models.
As highlighted by well-followed analyst Ted Pillows, Bitcoin is currently unfolding within a textbook Wyckoff distribution pattern, and that could mean the asset is now entering the final phase of a prolonged top formation. See below.

Bitcoin Wyckoff Distribution schematic chart. Source: Ted Pillows.
If it continues to follow this path, the breakdown could deepen further, with sellers taking firmer control as price drifts away from previously defended support levels.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price was trading just over $97,000, after dropping over 3.5% over the past 7 days.
Top altcoins this week
Over the past 7 days, the altcoin market cap initially rose from $1.51 trillion to $1.54 trillion before plunging to $1.44 trillion, ending the week down by 4.6% as of press time.
Market sentiment toward the altcoin sector remained largely subdued throughout the period.
The Altcoin Season Index, which tracks altcoin performance relative to Bitcoin, fluctuated between 26 and 33 during the week before settling at 33 at press time.
Ethereum, the leading altcoin by market share, climbed as high as $3,600 earlier in the week before bears and profit-taking from investors pushed it down to a low of $3,100.
It later recovered slightly to settle around $3,200 by the end of the week, still marking a 3.1% decline over the seven-day period.
Other major altcoins by market cap, including BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Chainlink (LINK), all ended the week in the red, with losses ranging from 2% to as much as 9%.
XRP (XRP), however, broke away from the pack, rising 4.5% over the same period and trading at $2.30 when writing.
Starknet (STRK) took the spotlight among the top 100 leading crypto assets with gains of 44.5% while AB (AB) and Uniswap followed with 36.5% and 32.8% respectively.

Source: CoinMarketCap
Starknet: STRK rallied this week, supported by investor hype around StarkWare’s release of S two, a fully open source zero-knowledge prover designed for faster proof generation, improved privacy, and stronger decentralization.
The new prover enables advanced real-world use cases such as shielded DeFi trading, where transaction amounts and senders remain hidden while still preserving regulatory compliance.
This has drawn interest from privacy-focused investors who have been looking to capitalize on the recent surge in attention toward privacy-driven applications.
On-chain metrics show that more than 900 million STRK tokens and over 650 BTC are now staked on Starknet, marking increases of 45% and 60% over the past month.
As more assets are locked into the network, the ecosystem is beginning to demonstrate stronger security and deeper economic commitment from its users.
Meanwhile, DeFi protocols built on Starknet have collectively surpassed $276 million in total value locked, supported by an aggressive Bitcoin deposit rewards program and a fresh distribution campaign of 100 million STRK tokens aimed at attracting new liquidity and driving continued adoption across the network.
AB: For AB Chain’s native token, AB, the gains followed a partnership with Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial to deploy USD1 stablecoin on the AB Chain network.
The USD1 integration is designed to enrich the AB chain’s DeFi and payment ecosystem, leveraging the chain’s high-performance network.
Looking ahead, investor optimism has also been buoyed by AB Wallet’s roadmap, which includes USD1 yield features and additional value-added services.
Uniswap: Uniswap has recently introduced a new governance proposal titled “UNIfication,” which aims to reshape the token’s economics and incentivize long-term holders.
At the core of the proposal is a Protocol Fee Activation, which would turn on a fee switch that will divert a portion of trading fees from the Uniswap DEX to burn UNI tokens.
In addition, the proposal includes a one-time burn of 100 million UNI tokens from the Uniswap treasury.
Traders expect the updated tokenomics to introduce a steady deflationary pressure that could support UNI’s value over time.
The post Bitcoin struggles at $100K after a turbulent week; STRK, AB and UNI lead weekly gains appeared first on Invezz











