4 Reasons Why Bitcoin’s Rally Was Halted at $89K and Might Not Resume Soon

The start of the business week was quite positive for bitcoin, as its price jumped by several grand from the weekend stagnation and hit a multi-week peak of just under $89,000.

However, it faced immediate resistance at that point and was pushed south to under $87,000 as of now. Here are some of the possible reasons behind the correction.

Technical Perspective

CryptoPotato warned yesterday that BTC’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), measuring the speed and change of price movements, had gone into an overbought territory above 70. Such rapid increases typically mean that the asset has reached a local top and could be heading for a correction.

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez outlined on X what happened to bitcoin the last six times it went into an overbought state. Hint, they were all painful.

Check out what happened to #Bitcoin $BTC the last six times the RSI hit overbought territory in the 4-hour chart! pic.twitter.com/N3J5fLR5so

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 24, 2025

The second technical indicator that could be behind BTC’s rejection is the TD Sequential. It sort of complements the RSI as it also shows whether the buyers or sellers have reached market exhaustion. In the case of bitcoin, it suggested a short-term top after the recent rally toward $89,000.

After timing the recent bottom, the TD Sequential indicator now suggests #Bitcoin $BTC may be approaching a short-term top, hinting at potential profit-taking ahead. pic.twitter.com/3NZOsKfXr1

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 24, 2025

The last potential reason from a technical perspective came in the form of resistance, which had built up around the $89,000 mark. It was created when the 50-day moving average and the descending trending from the ATH converged and acted as a big roadblock in BTC’s potential move toward $90,000 and $100,000, said Martinez.

Whales Offloading and Bonus

Big bitcoin holders, typically referred to as whales, used the opportunity to secure some profits amid BTC’s rally. According to Martinez, who cited data from Santiment, they disposed of more than 20,000 BTC, valued at roughly $1.8 billion at prices from the local peak.

Recall that whales had been accumulating hard in the past month as BTC’s price tumbled but might have changed their strategy, at least for the short term.

The bonus reason comes from Mt Gox. Arkham noted that wallets related to the failed exchange have moved $1 billion worth of BTC. Such transfers typically scare off the market, and they lead to brief corrections.

ARKHAM ALERT: MT GOX MOVING $1B $BTC

893 BTC were moved to Mt. Gox Hot Wallet [1Jbez] and 10608 BTC were moved to change wallet 1DcoA. pic.twitter.com/akr3hqSasD

— Arkham (@arkham) March 25, 2025