Bitcoin Bounces Back Above $63,000 After Morning Dip
Bitcoin (BTC) reversed sizable early Monday losses, returning to $63,400 around noon Eastern Time. The cryptocurrency had rallied over the weekend to nearly $64,000, but gave up those gains and more after Strategy (MSTR) reported the sale of more than 3,000 BTC last week. Buyers returned mid-morning, perhaps buoyed by the idea that Strategy may not have to sell much more of its stack, or by an offhand comment from President Trump that bitcoin might be a worthy addition to Trump Accounts.
At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading near $63,200, up about 1.7% over the past 24 hours. The recovery follows a volatile period that saw the asset dip below $60,000 earlier this month and hit a low near $57,800 before staging a weekend rebound. The price action highlights the ongoing sensitivity of cryptocurrency markets to news flow around institutional holders and regulatory signals.
Strategy's Bitcoin Sale Sparks Debate
On Monday morning, Strategy disclosed that it had sold 3,588 BTC for $216 million during the prior week. This is a dramatic step up from the company's initial sale of just 32 bitcoin in late May, which at the time triggered a panic-driven plunge from $74,000 to $60,000. The latest sale drew immediate reactions from market participants and analysts, with opinions sharply divided over the company's evolving strategy.
Peter Schiff, a longtime critic of Michael Saylor and his company, wrote: "Strategy now has a completely different business model. Instead of selling common and preferred stock and issuing debt to buy bitcoin, the new strategy is to sell bitcoin to pay interest and dividends, pay off debt, buy back shares it sold, and hope that bitcoin's price goes way up." Schiff's comments reflect a skeptical view of the firm's ability to sustain its bitcoin-heavy balance sheet without continued price appreciation.
Grant Cardone, however, dismissed concerns about earlier sell-offs: "You guys who believed selling 32 BTC caused sell-off three weeks ago have some reflecting to do." Jeff Sekinger warned: "Everyone was worried about Saylor getting liquidated. Well this is it. This is what it looks like. They will sell chunks of BTC at a loss to fund their credit products that aren't backed by cash flow. So if BTC doesn't appreciate, they will continue selling at a loss."
Other analysts took a more measured view. Josh Mandell noted: "I'm on board with the firm moving in this direction. When the usual approach to funding dividends is just selling more shares of common stock, opting to sell a small amount of bitcoin instead essentially behaves like a buyback of the common." Joe Burnett, an executive at fellow bitcoin treasury company Strive, calculated that if Strategy sells at the current pace and with zero BTC appreciation, today's dividend obligation is funded until 2056. At about 3.4% annual BTC appreciation, he said, the dividend obligation can be funded indefinitely.
Strategy CEO Phong Le described the shift as a natural evolution: "Strategy is evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management." The company also disclosed an $8.32 billion loss on digital assets during the second quarter, as bitcoin started the period at around $68,000 and ended near $60,000. This loss underscores the risks of holding a volatile asset on the balance sheet, even as the firm seeks to manage its capital more actively.
Saylor's 'Inoculate' Strategy Appears to Work Better This Time
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor had previously suggested that it might be wise to "inoculate" the market over the company's intention to possibly fund dividend payments with occasional bitcoin sales. The first sale of 32 bitcoin in late May caused a sharp sell-off, but the market's reaction to last week's much larger sale of 3,588 BTC was notably different. After a brief dip as the headline hit, bitcoin quickly returned to levels near its weekend highs. This suggests that traders have begun to price in Strategy's potential selling activity, and that the initial shock has worn off. The lack of panic may also reflect a broader understanding that the company's overall bitcoin holdings remain enormous — over 200,000 BTC — and that modest periodic sales are unlikely to materially alter supply dynamics.
Trump's Crypto Comments Provide Tailwind
President Trump added to the positive sentiment during a midday appearance, responding to a question about whether Trump accounts could include bitcoin by saying: "Something could happen. I'm a big fan of crypto." Bitcoin bulls, however, may be cautious about reading too much into the statement. Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has largely delivered on enriching himself through various crypto ventures, reporting more than $1 billion in profit from such activities in 2025. Meanwhile, the promised Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has seen little movement, and the regulatory environment, while somewhat improved, has not transformed the landscape as early enthusiasts had hoped.
Bitcoin is down roughly 50% from its October 2025 all-time high of around $126,000, a sharp correction that has tested the conviction of even the most bullish investors. The current price action suggests that while macro factors like jobs data and Fed policy remain important, news flow around institutional adoption and political signals can drive short-term swings of several thousand dollars.
SpaceX Joins Nasdaq 100 at Very Low Weighting
In other market-moving news, funds tracking the Nasdaq 100 — including Invesco's massive QQQ ETF with nearly $500 billion in assets under management — will be buyers of SpaceX (SPCX) shares at Monday's closing price as Elon Musk's company gets added to the influential index Tuesday morning. However, the buying pressure may be less than expected. SpaceX sold less than 5% of its shares in its IPO last month, and lockup rules prevent employees from unloading stock, meaning only a small fraction of SPCX shares are publicly floating. Nasdaq adjusts index weighting by "free float," so SpaceX will be weighted as closer to a $300 billion company rather than its current $2 trillion valuation. Its initial index weight will be less than 0.1%.
TeraWulf and American Bitcoin Make Headlines
Data center and bitcoin mining stocks staged a strong rebound Monday after sharp declines last week. TeraWulf (WULF) surged 13% after inking a 20-year lease with AI giant Anthropic for its Kentucky data center, a deal expected to be worth about $19 billion over the initial term. TeraWulf, originally a bitcoin mining company, has pivoted to building AI-focused data center infrastructure, and the Anthropic lease validates that strategy. Other names in the sector also rallied: IREN (IREN) gained 13%, Hut 8 (HUT) rose 10.5%, Cipher Mining (CIFR) added 9.5%, and Keel Infrastructure (KEEL) and Bitdeer (BTDR) each gained 8%.
Meanwhile, American Bitcoin (ABTC), a bitcoin mining and treasury company, added another 500 BTC to push its total holdings to 8,000 BTC, making it the 16th largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin. Eric Trump serves as Chief Strategy Officer. Despite increasing its bitcoin reserves, ABTC shares are still down around 70% year to date. The company recently completed a 1-for-15 reverse stock split to maintain its Nasdaq listing, reducing the number of outstanding shares without changing the value of the business or its bitcoin holdings.
SK Hynix IPO and Chip Stock Rotation
SK Hynix (000600) is set for one of the largest IPOs of 2026, with bookbuilding scheduled for July 6–9, pricing on July 9, and Nasdaq trading set for July 10. The memory-chip maker plans a reference price of $158.14, implying a reference market capitalization of about $1.16 trillion. Proceeds will fund capital expenditures and the purchase of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanners, reinforcing its leadership in AI memory chips. SK Hynix shares in Korea have surged 260% this year, driven by booming demand for AI infrastructure and high bandwidth memory (HBM). The flow of capital into major AI companies and stock offerings continues to attract investment away from other risk assets, such as bitcoin, which has struggled this year.
Morgan Stanley analysts cautioned that U.S. stocks may struggle to reach fresh highs as investors rotate out of semiconductor shares and into hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. The bank said momentum in chip stocks is fading and maintained a year-end S&P 500 target of 8,000. JPMorgan analysts, on the other hand, argued that the recent semiconductor pullback is a buying opportunity and that the AI-driven chip cycle remains strong, with meaningful new supply unlikely before 2028. They continued to favor chipmakers over hyperscalers. The rotation in AI and semiconductor trades may have indirectly supported bitcoin, which bounced nearly 10% from lows near $58,000 last week.
Ether Accumulation and Token Surges
BitMine (BMNR) added 42,197 ETH tokens last week for about $74 million, bringing its total holdings to roughly 5.74 million ETH, or 4.8% of the total supply of ether. Despite this accumulation, ETH is lower by 1.5% over the past 24 hours at $1,740. In the altcoin space, LIT, the native token of decentralized perpetuals platform Lighter, surged 13% to $2.50, making it the best performing top 100 cryptocurrency. The token has gained 31% since Lighter unveiled a tokenomics update on June 30. The update centers on two main adjustments: repurchased tokens acquired through ongoing exchange revenue will now face permanent burns, directly shrinking supply over time. Additionally, staking rewards have transitioned away from temporary bootstrapping funds and will instead draw from Lighter's remaining ecosystem allocation, aiming for an initial 6% annualized yield.
Bitcoin's Cyclical Position and Macro Backdrop
Exactly nine months ago, on Oct. 6, 2025, Bitcoin reached its all-time high of around $126,000. It now trades near $62,500, a roughly 50% correction after falling as low as $57,800. If the four-year cycle continues to hold — a historical pattern in which Bitcoin has moved through roughly four-year periods of bull markets, bear markets, and recoveries — then the cycle bottom may still be months away, potentially around October 2026. However, some analysts argue that the increasing institutional adoption and the growing correlation with traditional markets could alter the timing of future cycles.
Thursday's U.S. jobs report came in weaker than expected, giving liquidity-sensitive assets a lift heading into the weekend. A weakening jobs market makes a Fed rate hike less likely and gradually shifts the backdrop that pushed ETF investors out of bitcoin through June. That process takes time, and one data print does not flip the setup. The July 14 CPI release is the next data point that could either extend the relief or further cap an early-July rally. The combination of easing monetary policy expectations, a potential crypto-friendly political environment, and the ongoing rotation from AI stocks into alternative assets keeps bitcoin in a technically fragile but sentiment-improving position.
Source:Coindesk News