New York, July 10, 2026, 19:12 (EDT)
Bitcoin hovered around $63,994 late Friday, rising 1.3% for the session after touching $64,571 earlier. The token was close to session highs, but appetite in the main Wall Street vehicle for buying bitcoin still looked light.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost $180.2 million over Wednesday and Thursday. That brought July’s net flows to just $34.5 million through July 9, even as bitcoin traded 8.7% higher than its July 1 level of $58,864.27. Friday flows weren’t finalized when published.
| July divergence | Reading |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin has climbed since July started | +8.7% |
| Spot-ETF net inflow July 1 through July 9 | +$34.5 million |
| Spot-ETF outflow for July 8 and 9 | -$180.2 million |
| July’s flow as a slice of the entire $51.24 billion | 0.07% |
The gap is worth noting. A flow at 0.07% of the ETF market’s total intake can’t explain a nearly 9% jump in price. What moved things faster were short covering, a softer dollar, and the bounce in Asian chip stocks. “Once liquidations begin to drive price action, the market can move faster than real demand would justify,” said Shawn Young, chief analyst at MEXC Research. Liquidations, in this case, are forced closures of leveraged positions when investors run out of collateral. CoinDesk
Two crypto proxy stocks closed behind bitcoin in the U.S., a sign investors were not piling into exchange-traded crypto exposure.
| Friday comparison | Move |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin | up 1.3% |
| Strategy Inc. NASDAQ:MSTR | added 0.7% |
| Coinbase Global Inc. NASDAQ:COIN | rose 0.4% |
Derivatives pointed to less bearish sentiment than cash-fund flows, but the market wasn’t stable. Bitcoin’s options put/call ratio dropped to 0.56, the lowest seen so far in 2026, so bullish call contracts outpaced bearish puts. Still, traders kept paying up to hedge against price drops. Long-term holders booked about $280 million of daily losses lately, selling coins at prices lower than they paid— the fastest pace since December 2022.
Corporate buying isn’t just a simple support for bitcoin lately. Strategy unloaded 3,588 bitcoin worth about $216 million from June 29 to July 5, looking to cover preferred-share payouts and boost cash. Geoff Kendrick, who runs digital-assets research at Standard Chartered Plc LON:STAN, called these sales “mostly noise rather than a signal” and kept his $100,000 bitcoin forecast for end-2026. Decrypt
The rebound may not last if ETF outflows keep up and the dollar climbs. Leverage that pushed Friday’s move higher can cut the other way just as quickly. If Bitcoin drops below $60,000, it could retest the recent low near $58,300. Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus, said investors should “avoid chasing short-term rallies until BTC clears $67,000 with stronger ETF demand.” The Economic Times
The key now is if bitcoin can stay above $65,000, not just touch it. Traders are watching for sustained positive fund flows, not just a brief spike. Without that, this move still looks like a sharp bounce in a thin market instead of steady institutional demand coming back.
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