Bitcoin has maintained its upward momentum since the week started, signaling renewed interest and optimism in the market. The asset reclaimed the $88,000 price level on Monday and continues to trade above this zone, marking a nearly 10% rise in value over the past seven days.

The steady price recovery comes after weeks of retracement, during which Bitcoin experienced considerable selling pressure and fell from previous highs.

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On-Chain Resistance Zones Identified

IntoTheBlock, an on-chain analytics platform, provided insights on whether Bitcoin could be on track to retest its all-time high. The firm highlighted several key resistance ranges that may impact Bitcoin’s price action in the near term.

These include the $88,355.91 to $90,920.05, $90,920.05 to $93,591.02, $93,591.02 to $96,262.00, $96,262.00 to $98,932.97, and $98,932.97 to $101,603.95 levels—zones where many addresses are currently holding Bitcoin at a loss.

Is Bitcoin on its way to test its highs?

The red bubbles in this chart highlight levels where underwater investors could sell as they break even, especially if uncertainty persists.

A key zone is around $97.4k, where roughly 1.44 million BTC are currently holding at a loss. pic.twitter.com/LKaDBen7cU

— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) March 24, 2025

Notably, around the $97.4K level alone, approximately 1.44 million BTC are held by investors in unrealized loss positions, which could introduce selling pressure as prices recover.

Despite the resistance ahead, other on-chain activity shows signs of investor confidence. According to IntoTheBlock, Bitcoin saw over $220 million in net outflows from centralized exchanges in the past 24 hours.

Over the past week, total outflows have exceeded $424 million, often interpreted as a sign of investors moving assets into cold storage rather than preparing to sell.

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Burak Kesmeci noted that Bitcoin’s 30-day volatility index has surged to 52.31 points—its highest level in the past six months. The spike in volatility coincides with anticipation around the US Core PCE report expected Friday, a macroeconomic event that could introduce further price swings.

Technical Outlook On Bitcoin

From a technical perspective, analysts remain divided. Crypto analyst Ali pointed out that Bitcoin is approaching a key resistance zone around $89,000, where the 50-day moving average intersects with a descending trendline drawn from the January all-time high.

The outcome at this level may influence the direction of the next major move. On the other hand, analyst Javon Marks highlighted what he described as a potential breakout pattern forming on Bitcoin’s chart.

BREAKOUT ALERT on Bitcoin and the last breakout after similar action led into one of the most powerful and FASTEST bullish moves so far this entire cycle!$BTC can be ready to deliver another powerful and speedy run to new All Time Highs… https://t.co/tchC9wsLFl pic.twitter.com/QKbDAUV88l

— JAVONMARKS (@JavonTM1) March 25, 2025

He pointed to a previous breakout that triggered one of the fastest rallies in the current cycle and noted similar technical behavior emerging again. Marks believes that if momentum continues, Bitcoin could be positioning itself for another rapid climb toward new record highs.

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView

While the initial reaction to the tariffs sent Bitcoin to $91,000, altcoins saw an even steeper decline. The futures market felt the brunt of this volatility, as evident in the sharp declines in open interest across exchanges. Open interest, which represents the total number of outstanding futures contracts, is a key indicator of market leverage and activity.

Across all exchanges, OI fluctuated notably: it stood at $57.63 billion on February 24 at 01:00, rose slightly to $57.95 billion by Feb. 25 at 01:00, and then dropped to $55.71 billion by 11:41 later in the same day. This $2.24 billion decline within hours reflects a rapid reduction in market leverage as traders closed positions or were liquidated en masse.

The impact varied significantly across exchanges. CME, which primarily serves institutional investors, recorded an 8.38% drop over 24 hours, reducing its OI to $14.87 billion. This decline suggests that institutional traders, who typically hold larger, less leveraged positions, reacted swiftly to the price drop by closing or reducing their exposure.

In contrast, Binance, the exchange with the highest single liquidation yesterday, saw a much smaller OI decline of -0.22% over the same period, bringing its OI to $11.29 billion. Despite absorbing massive liquidations, Binance’s resilience in OI points to its predominantly retail user base, where traders may have been more willing to maintain or open new positions amid the volatility.

Coinbase experienced the most dramatic percentage drop in OI at -41.10%, reducing its OI to just $110.17 million. Although Coinbase holds a small market share in futures, this sharp decline indicates that its users — likely retail and institutional traders with lower risk tolerance — reacted strongly to the market stress, possibly through panic selling or forced liquidations.

The significance of Coinbase’s 41% drop in OI lies in what it reveals about retail sentiment. Despite its modest $110.17 million in outstanding contracts and a mere 0.19% market share, the magnitude of the decline suggests that Coinbase’s futures market was heavily leveraged or subject to intense selling pressure.

The platform’s extremely low OI-to-24-hour volume ratio of 0.0042—the lowest among major exchanges — indicates minimal trading activity relative to OI, likely exacerbating the impact of liquidations. This behavior suggests a loss of confidence among retail traders on the exchange, a segment that typically stabilizes the market during corrections.

The disparity between CME and Binance further highlights structural differences in the futures market. CME’s -8.38% OI drop, despite lower liquidation volumes compared to Binance, reflects the cautious nature of institutional traders. These players likely closed positions to mitigate risk, as evidenced by CME’s high OI-to-24-hour volume ratio of 1.3552, indicating robust trading activity relative to OI.

In contrast, Binance’s -0.22% OI decline, coupled with a lower OI-to-24-hour volume ratio of 0.3004, suggests that while many over-leveraged retail positions were liquidated, others remained or were replaced, which tempered the overall OI reduction.

Binance’s resilience shows we could see sustained retail interest, which could provide some stability to the market in the near term. However, CME’s larger proportional decline signals institutional wariness, which may slow any potential recovery if large players continue to pull back.

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