Bitcoin shattered the $97,000 resistance level on Thursday, driven by a massive pulse of institutional capital that marks the largest single-day ETF inflow of 2026. After a sluggish start to the year, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs aggressively reversed course on Wednesday, absorbing a net $843.6 million in fresh liquidity.
This capital injection is not retail speculation; it is institutional accumulation. Data from SoSoValue confirms that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) alone captured $648.4 million, its highest daily intake since launching. Fidelity’s FBTC added another $125 million, while Grayscale’s GBTC and other smaller funds saw comparatively negligible activity.
The Institutional Pivot
The sudden inflow represents a hard pivot from early January’s outflows. Over the last three trading days, these funds have pulled in over $1.7 billion, effectively erasing the selling pressure from the first week of the year. The market response was immediate: Bitcoin surged 3.6% to trade near $97,500, forcing short liquidations and pushing the Crypto Fear & Greed Index into "Greed" territory (61) for the first time since October.
"It looks like Bitcoin has finally found its real support level, and it is not from price charts but from institutions."
This "risk-on" shift coincides with stabilizing macro conditions, as investors position themselves ahead of anticipated Q1 rate cuts. Unlike the retail-driven rallies of previous cycles, the current move is characterized by systematic, high-volume buying during U.S. market hours. If IBIT continues to absorb supply at this rate, roughly 6,600 BTC in a single session, liquidity on the sell-side will thin rapidly as the asset approaches the psychological $100,000 barrier.
