(MENAFN- The Rio Times) Bitcoin slipped to about $121,000 Wednesday morning after failing to hold early-week highs near $126,000. Ether fell harder to roughly $4,431; Solana hovered near $219, XRP around $2.85 and Dogecoin near $0.24.

In a rare split, BNB gained about 2%. A risk-hedging bid was visible in tokenized gold (XAUT), up close to 2% around $4,041.

The day's contradiction is the story: record investment demand on one side, profit-taking and thin liquidity on the other. Crypto funds drew roughly $5.95 billion last week-an all-time high-led by bitcoin products.

On Monday alone, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in about $1.21 billion, and spot ether ETFs about $177 million.“There's growing recognition of digital assets as an alternative in times of uncertainty,” said James Butterfill of CoinShares.

But market-maker QCP Capital noted the weekend push above $125,000 came in thin, largely non-institutional flows-leaving prices vulnerable to quick shakeouts. Around $150 million of leveraged long positions were liquidated during the slide, exaggerating the move.



What the charts say: on the four-hour view, bitcoin has slipped below its 20–50 EMA band with a bearish MACD cross and RSI in the low-40s-classic consolidation after a sprint.

Supports sit near $121,000 and then $118,000–$119,000; the 4-hour 200-MA near $115,000 is the line to defend. The daily trend remains up: BTC still trades above a cluster of moving averages around $119,000–$121,000, with momentum cooling but not broken.

Reclaiming ~$124,000 would re-open a retest of $125,000–$126,000; losing ~$118,000 risks a deeper, orderly pullback. Beyond the majors, the tape was two-speed.

Micro-caps swung wildly-KGEN jumped about 727%, COAI 81%, FORM 36% and KOMA 37%-while AVNT and 2Z dropped roughly 20% each, with XPL off 18% and PI down 10%.

The story behind the story: spot ETFs are steadily wiring new money into crypto, changing who buys and when. Yet the market's microstructure-leverage, weekend liquidity, concentrated flows-still behaves like crypto. That tension explains how record inflows and sharp pullbacks can coexist on the same week.

MENAFN08102025007421016031ID1110165594