A market analysis with the price of bitcoin resting on the fine line of $80,000 contradicts the bullish sentiment that investors expect for the second half of May.
According to Santiment data, Tether (USDT) on Ethereum saw highest net outflow from exchanges in three monthswith 1.29 billion USDT on Friday, May 8. The chart provided by the analytics firm shows the exchange flow balance alongside the price of BTC, with explicit notation of Friday’s recent negative spike.
Stablecoin flows outside of exchanges imply that holders withdraw their purchasing power from trading platforms instead of liquidating it in fiat money and exiting the market, indicating a capital repositioning strategy for the medium term. This money on the exit ramp is also an indicator that capital would not flow into bitcoin soon.
This is interpreted as bearish in the short term, and only potentially bullish for the medium and long term. The last time USDT outflows of similar magnitude were recorded, on February 9 for 3.72 billion, the price of bitcoin suffered a slight correction over the following two weeks, but it gave an ideal buying zone on February 24assures Santiment.
At the same time, deposits on Binance, the world’s largest exchange and therefore a fundamental indicator of market sentiments, show a sharp increase, reflecting that retail money It flows back to exchanges to sell bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Counterintuitively, this increases market confidence because holders see that bitcoin is capable of appreciating and making profits.
This confidence is demonstrated by Rei Researcher, CryptoQuant analyst, who shows that The NUPL (Net Unrealized Profit/Loss) rose to around 0.38 after being at 0.15. The market, therefore, went from fear to “cautious optimism”, despite the immediate selling behavior.
The bearish data above is reinforced by what shows the realized price and the profit/loss margins of the traders. According to a report, also from CryptoQuant, bitcoin traders They accumulate the highest margins of unrealized profits since June 2025.
These levels increase the risk of correction by encouraging profit taking. Historically, profit-taking pressure in bitcoin tends to accelerate as such unrealized margins rise.
For these corrections in the price of bitcoin to not occur, the currency’s price should soon settle at $88,000 or above that resistance. By doing so, all cohorts of short-term bitcoin holders would begin to have positive balances and would not need to “sell underwater”. This follows from the analysis of Burak Kesmeci, verified analyst at CryptoQuant.
Such price behavior would set up a real signal of a bearish price trend reversal. For now, however, the price of bitcoin will correct, but it is not ruled out that it will do so to gain strength and continue encouraging a good streak that began in the first days of April.