Bitcoin's price dipped slightly on Thursday, struggling to gain ground amid moderate capital inflows from institutional investors, while the end of the prolonged US government shutdown helped boost some appetite for risk.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell 0.6% to $102,775.6 by 8:52 AM Saudi time, lagging significantly behind the slight recovery in altcoin prices.
Bitcoin ETF flows remain entirely negative, and institutional investors appear cautious.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US saw an outflow of approximately $278 million on Wednesday, and an outflow of $1.2 billion in the first week of November, according to data from SoSoValue.
While exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw an inflow of $247 million over the past seven days, it was only a fraction of the large outflows seen during late October and early November.
These outflows come after $500 billion was wiped off the value of cryptocurrencies in early October, shaking institutional confidence in cryptocurrencies, with institutional treasury buyers and ETF operators pulling significantly out of the market since then.
This deprived cryptocurrencies of the capital needed to drive their prices up.
The slow price movement has also led to a decline in individual traders' interest in cryptocurrency, which is usually attractive to speculative investors because of its sharp price fluctuations.
Bitcoin has struggled to break above $110,000 since early October, trading below $105,000 for most of November. The cryptocurrency also briefly dipped below $100,000 earlier in the month.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Altcoins rise as the US government reopens
Broader cryptocurrency prices outperformed Bitcoin on Thursday, as risk appetite received some support from US lawmakers agreeing to end the longest government shutdown in the country's history.
Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, rose 2.6% to $3,530.65, while XRP climbed 4.8%.
BNB and Cardano each rose by about 0.9%, while Solana remained stable. Among meme coins, Dogecoin climbed 2%, while $TRUMP moved sideways.
Risk appetite received a slight boost after US President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government until at least January 30. This followed a House of Representatives vote to approve the measure late Wednesday.
But the government's reopening also opens the door to more official economic data releases, which could paint a bleak picture of the world's largest economy, especially in the wake of the shutdown. Trump claimed the shutdown cost the economy $1.5 trillion.
