BTC Funding Stays Positive Through 4% Drop as Strategy Discloses $216M BTC Sale

Bitcoin shed as much as 4% on Monday, sliding toward $61,000 before a US-session bounce ran out of steam near $62,000. The trigger: Strategy disclosed the sale of 3,588 BTC, worth roughly $216 million, one of the largest single reductions the firm has reported since it began stacking Bitcoin.

The move wiped out most of BTC’s holiday-period gains, with the recovery clawing back less than half of the intraday loss. Strategy said the proceeds cover preferred stock dividend obligations and top up cash reserves, and confirmed its remaining BTC holdings — valued at approximately $2.55 billion — stay untouched.

Funding didn’t flinch

The data point traders flagged first: funding rates stayed positive through the drawdown, meaning leveraged longs were still paying to hold positions even as spot bled lower. That divergence — falling price, sticky positive funding — is the classic setup that precedes forced deleveraging if spot weakness persists.

X commentator Exitpump treated the Strategy disclosure as an accelerant rather than the root cause, writing: “Bearish signs were there, posted about it yesterday, news about Saylor selling just triggered more dump.” They added: “Funding is still pretty positive. That was it i guess. Short term bounce from 61.2k and then more dump imo.”

The same account had flagged a TWAP buyer absorbing supply in a Sunday post, warning that withdrawal of that bid could trigger a faster leg down, with an estimated price ceiling near $64,000. Thin holiday liquidity likely amplified the price impact of a sale that, in isolation, is small relative to daily BTC turnover.

Chart readings split

Trader Rekt Capital drew a direct parallel to mid-2022, noting the monthly chart shows Bitcoin testing the 50-month EMA as resistance — the same technical setup that preceded further downside four years ago: “Generally, Bitcoin is doing the same exact thing now as it was doing in the Summer of 2022.”

Not all signals point down. Trader Jelle flagged bullish divergence building on the weekly BTC/USDT RSI, arguing current structure looks better than prior drawdowns: “I have seen the $BTC chart look much worse than this over the years.” Separately, several on-chain reversal indicators have printed readings not seen since late 2022, keeping the setup contested rather than one-directional.

Michaël van de Poppe framed the reaction as forward-looking rather than mechanical, tied to concerns about continued Strategy distribution: “The markets are reacting with a shock response to this news. $BTC drops, and it’s clearly valuing the potential impact that Strategy can continue to sell Bitcoin going forward.” He added he wouldn’t be surprised by a disclosure “in the coming days that they’ve been buying more $BTC than they’ve sold.”

The near-term watchlist for positioning: whether funding rates decouple from spot, how the TWAP buyer identified by Exitpump behaves near the $64,000 ceiling, and whether Strategy’s next disclosure shows accumulation rather than distribution. A reversal on that last point would flip the current supply-side read the market is pricing in.

Read more: Bitcoin Grinds $63K as Dollar Squeeze Lifts Dominance to 69.4%, Fear Gauge at 27

Sources

• cointelegraph.com