Analysts from Glassnode report that spot market conditions for Bitcoin are showing early signs of improvement, marked by a modest increase in trading volume and a clear reduction in sell-side pressure. The net buy-sell imbalance has broken above its upper statistical band, indicating a shift in market dynamics. Despite this positive development, Glassnode cautions that spot demand "remains fragile and uneven."
Bitcoin's price action reflects this mixed environment. The asset declined almost 3% from its weekend high of $95,450 to trade around $92,550, as markets digested the fallout from the latest escalation in the US/EU trade war. Nevertheless, Bitcoin remains up 6% since the beginning of the year. "Overall, Bitcoin remains in consolidation, but internal conditions are improving," stated Glassnode, adding that markets are gradually rebuilding with strengthening buy-side dynamics and renewed institutional interest.
Gracie Lin, CEO at OKX Singapore, interprets the data as a sign that the market has absorbed much of the late-2025 profit-taking. "Long-term holders appear less inclined to sell into every rally, while ETF flows continue to show institutions buying pullbacks," she said. Lin further noted that against a backdrop of fresh tariff headlines and record gold prices, the case is strengthening for Bitcoin to be treated more as a portfolio hedge than a short-term trade.
Concurrently, technical and on-chain analyses point to January as a potential critical consolidation phase. Alphractal's data indicates Bitcoin is approaching an optimal Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) zone, a condition that occurs when the price falls below all daily moving averages from the 7-day to the 720-day cycle. Currently, only the MA720 near $86,000 remains intact. Historically, such zones have been excellent regions for long-term accumulation.
Furthermore, Swissblock analysts highlight that Bitcoin's network growth and liquidity have fallen to levels last seen in 2022. "History shows that the subsequent surge in both metrics fueled the major bull run," they noted, suggesting similar conditions could precede a significant rally. Supporting this thesis, exchange data from CryptoQuant shows a sharp decline in selling pressure from whales, with BTC inflows from large transactions to Binance dropping from nearly $8 billion per month in late November 2025 to around $2.74 billion currently.
