Bitcoin Faces Resistance at $80,000, Analyst Sees Temporary Setback

Bitcoin, currently trading at $78,531.01, is experiencing a familiar pattern just shy of the $80,000 milestone, hindered by sellers despite fresh stablecoin liquidity and ETF demand suggesting a potential breakout. The cryptocurrency briefly surpassed $79,000 during Asian trading hours before falling back to trade below $78,000, resulting in a 0.4% loss over the past 24 hours. Other major cryptocurrencies, including Ether, XRP, and Solana's SOL, have also declined, with broader market benchmarks dropping over 1%. According to Alex Kuptsikevich, FxPro's chief market analyst, the $80,000 level is acting as a near-term barrier due to concentrated sell orders. However, Kuptsikevich believes the pullback is temporary and consistent with the broader uptrend that began in late March. On-chain and ETF data support this view, with Binance recording a net inflow of roughly $3.4 billion in stablecoins this month and U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs attracting $2.44 billion in investor money. Meanwhile, security risks in decentralized finance continue to impact sentiment, with DeFi protocols losing an estimated $623 million to hacks in April alone.