In early last month, despite gold, silver, and U.S. stocks continuing to hit new highs, the price of Bitcoin showed weakness, repeatedly failing to break through $90,000 and eventually falling back to $75,000.
At the time, the market attributed the decline to safe-haven fund flows, ETF fund fluctuations, and weak demand. However, some analysts pointed out that the real signal had already been reflected in the exchange order books.
Keith Alan, co-founder of Material Indicators, stated that order book data showed persistent seller liquidity below $90,000, continuously suppressing the upside. His FireCharts tool revealed large sell orders repeatedly appearing above the spot price, keeping the price pinned near the lower end of the range for an extended period.
He termed this behavior the "liquidity herd effect": large participants create psychological pressure by placing conspicuous sell orders, dampening buying sentiment, and thus quietly accumulating at lower prices. Such strategies often emerge before option expirations to control prices within favorable ranges.
Meanwhile, a dense cluster of buy orders formed in the $85,000–$87,500 range, providing short-term price support. However, once this support was breached, due to insufficient liquidity, volatility amplified, and selling intensified rapidly, driving the price down to $74,000–$76,000.
Alan had previously warned that a monthly close below $87,500 (the 2026 opening price) would constitute a critical technical breakdown, signaling the market's entry into "Bearadise" (a phase of declining confidence and accelerating downtrend).
Overall, Bitcoin's prolonged suppression below $90,000 was not solely due to macro or fundamental factors but was primarily driven by order book structure and large capital flows. Once key support failed, price vulnerability was rapidly magnified.
