Bitcoin (BTC) Little Changed After Teasing All-Time High

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk's daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context.

Major cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC) traded in a narrow range on Wednesday after teasing a record high.

BTC fluctuated between $71,150 and $72,500 after climbing to just under $73,000 at around 23:00 UTC on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency rose to over $73,500 during the U.S. afternoon on Tuesday.

The broader digital asset market is also muted, having gained just under 0.9% in the last 24 hours, with ether (ETH) rising about 1.15% and solana (SOL) falling by over 2.5%.

Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their third-highest inflows on Tuesday, adding more than $870 million. Total trading volumes crossed $4.75 billion — the highest since March — with BlackRock's IShares bitcoin ETF (IBIT) accounting for $3.3 billion alone.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said he expects bigger inflow figures in the coming days.

“$IBIT traded $3.3b today, biggest number in 6mo, which is a bit odd bc btc was up 4% (typically ETF volume spikes in a downturn/crisis),” Balchunas wrote on Twitter. “Occasionally tho volume can spike if there a FOMO-ing frenzy. Given the surge in price past few days, my guess is this is latter, which means look for big inflows this week.”

The Bhutan government, which holds over $900 million worth of bitcoin, moved a chunk of its holdings to exchanges on Tuesday, sparking speculation that it is on the verge of selling some of its stash in a move that may weigh on market prices.

Bhutan’s BTC movements are part of a broader trend of profit-taking among whales as the cryptocurrency's price approaches the record high set in March. As more holders move into profit and look to lock in gains, their market activity may slow the climb toward the record, CoinDesk research noted earlier this month. Even though realized profit in bitcoin peaked on Oct. 8 and has started to slow down, which is a positive development, there remains higher profit-taking than the yearly average.