Key facts
- Bitcoin traded near $63,700, testing support at $60,000.
- Standard Chartered maintained a year-end Bitcoin target of $100,000.
- The bank cited three conditions for a potential bottom: Strategy buybacks, stable ETF flows, and exhausted liquidations.
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $3.45 billion in net outflows over 13 consecutive sessions.
- Futures liquidations during the current drawdown reached $1.5 billion.
Bitcoin traded near $63,739, testing critical support at $60,000, down roughly 14% over the past week. Standard Chartered's global head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick, maintained a year-end target of $100,000, suggesting the current sell-off represents a tactical buying zone. Kendrick's assessment hinges on three conditions: Strategy repeating its pattern of buying back more bitcoin than it sells, structural durability in spot ETF flows, and the exhaustion of leveraged-long liquidations. Strategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for dividend obligations, and a potential buyback of approximately 100 times that amount could signal a tentative bottom. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recorded 13 consecutive sessions of net outflows totaling about $3.45 billion, including $1.42 billion in the week ending May 29 and $2.30 billion in May, the worst month of the year. Despite these outflows, cumulative net inflows since inception remained at $54.2 billion, with aggregate holdings at roughly 674,000 BTC across eleven funds, which Kendrick framed as a sign of structural strength. Futures liquidations during the current drawdown reached $1.5 billion, below comparable prior episodes, indicating fewer forced sellers.