Bitcoin (BTC) Struggles to Keep Up the Momentum, Analysts Predict a Bearish Outlook Citing the Emergence of a Dead Cross

Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin [BTC] has experienced a strong upswing, reclaiming the $100k level.

Bitcoin [BTC] began 2025 on a bullish note, reclaiming the $100k level after a brief pullback. However, a closer examination of the charts revealed a potential mid to long-term price stagnation.

CryptoQuant analyst Yansei Dent highlighted this possibility, pointing out the emergence of a “dead cross” on Bitcoin’s active addresses.

Death Cross Emerges on Bitcoin Active Addresses

Dent’s analysis showed that Bitcoin has entered a stagnation phase, with active addresses signaling a weakening momentum.

A death cross has emerged on the 30-Day Moving Average (DMA) and 365 DMA. This signals a decline in short-term activity among investors.

Historically, such patterns in active addresses have coincided with bearish market conditions, acting as a negative indicator.

Moreover, the analysis showed that the transaction count has been declining since Q4 2024. This further reinforces the likelihood of mid to long-term market stagnation.

Hence, with these conditions still prevailing, BTC could struggle to maintain an uptrend until the overall market signals improvement.

Weakening Market Fundamentals: Death Cross, Declining NVT Golden Cross

A closer examination of the BTC charts revealed several indicators pointing toward weakening market fundamentals.

For starters, we can observe this short-term bearishness through the declining NVT Golden Cross. This has declined to reach the negative zone of -1.1, at press time.

When the NVT golden cross reaches negative, it suggests a decrease in Bitcoin’s market value relative to transaction activity. This indicates a divergence between the price and network activity.

This reduced network activity is further confirmed by a negative price DAA Divergence. This shows that market fundamentals are weakening and the current BTC value might be unsustainable.

Finally, Bitcoin’s fund market premium has declined to -0.08. When the fund market premium reaches this level, it indicates that futures prices are trading below spot prices. This suggests a higher demand for short positions.

Overall, despite Bitcoin reclaiming $100k, the markets are not setting up for a sustained uptrend. The current gains are largely speculative and driven by the U.S. inflation data.

Hence, with weakening fundamentals, BTC will likely continue to consolidate within a range of $94k and $100k.