Bitcoin Slips as Market Awaits U.S. Inflation Data

After a strong upward streak, Bitcoin’s momentum has temporarily stalled as investors await new signals from upcoming U.S. inflation data. However, demand from major institutional players continues to provide solid support for the market.

On May 26, investor sentiment improved notably after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a delay in the 50% retaliatory tariffs the European Union had planned to impose on U.S. imports. While this positive development helped European stock markets rally, it was not enough to sustain Bitcoin above the $110,000 mark—raising questions among traders about whether a new all-time high is still within reach.

Despite a modest pullback to around $105,000, positive signals from the derivatives market and growing institutional interest indicate that investor confidence in the upward trend remains intact. Traders are avoiding excessive leverage—an encouraging sign that they are not overly concerned about short-term corrections.

A clear example of this came on May 26, when the Bitcoin futures premium rose slightly to 8%, up from 6.5% the previous day. Although higher, it still sits within the neutral zone of 5–10%. For comparison, in December 2024—when Bitcoin first broke the $100,000 mark—futures premiums surged as high as 20%.

Bitcoin showed a slight recovery over the weekend, but selling pressure consistently emerged whenever the price approached $110,000, limiting further upside. According to Glassnode data, large wallets holding over 10,000 BTC have been net sellers, while smaller investors continue to accumulate.

On Binance, the gap between spot and futures trading volumes suggests selling pressure persists each time BTC nears the $110,000 level.

Notably, on Sunday, May 25, the futures market briefly pushed Bitcoin back to $110,000 after President Trump revealed that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had proposed delaying the EU’s 50% tariff by another month, from the original June 1 deadline.

Compared to the previous week, funding rates across exchanges have cooled considerably—especially on Hyperliquid (represented by the orange line in the chart), where trader James Wynn had previously held both a 40x leveraged long position worth $1.2 billion and a $500 million short position. Both positions have now been closed.

As for the likelihood of breaking the $110,000 resistance level, Bitcoin’s upward momentum may be temporarily capped by the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. This pause in market activity also means spot Bitcoin ETFs—whose net inflows have exceeded $8.36 billion since early April—will halt trading for the day.

According to analytics platform TheKingfisher, margin traders are currently holding long positions, with potential liquidation zones identified between $109,000 and $107,000. If prices dip into this range, a wave of liquidations could follow.

However, data from CoinGlass paints a more optimistic scenario: if Bitcoin successfully breaks through the $110,000 resistance, a cascade of short liquidations could occur—potentially propelling the price swiftly toward the $114,000 zone.