Investing.com-- Bitcoin moved little on Thursday, extending its rangebound performance after a recent rebound ran dry amid persistent concerns over the outlook for U.S. trade tariffs and economic growth.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency marked a strong rally through April, adding nearly 20% and wiping out its annual losses as sentiment improved from troughs seen earlier this year.
But broader crypto markets largely lagged this rebound, given that a bulk of Bitcoin’s gains were also driven by large buying action from Michael Saylor’s Strategy and a slew of spot exchange-traded funds.
But ETF buying was seen petering out this week, with major ETFs logging a small net outflow on Wednesday.
Bitcoin steadied at $94,943.4 by 01:09 ET (05:09 GMT).
Bitcoin rebound stalls as ETF inflows cool
Bitcoin tread water this week after rallying nearly 20% from annual lows in April.
Gains in the crypto were driven by a heavy dose of bargain buying, with institutional investors also seen piling into spot ETFs.
Data from SoSoValue showed Bitcoin ETFs clocked eight straight days of outsized inflows through late-April, with inflows only slowing this week. ETFs clocked about $56.2 million of outflows on Wednesday.
The world’s largest crypto had slumped to lows around $70,000 in March and April- its weakest levels so far in 2025- as risk appetite was eroded by heightened uncertainty around global trade and economic growth.
But some easing in this uncertainty helped spur Bitcoin’s gains, especially after President Donald Trump postponed steep reciprocal tariffs against major U.S. trading partners by 90 days.
But Trump still led the U.S. into a renewed trade war with China, dampening the global economic outlook. Softer-than-expected gross domestic product data released this week added to the anxiety, given that it showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are largely speculative in nature, meaning that they move more on sentiment than actual fundamentals. This trend is expected to weigh on crypto in the coming weeks, especially if sentiment towards the U.S. economy worsens.
Crypto price today: altcoins tread water after positive April
Broader crypto prices were also largely rangebound on Thursday, cooling off after strong gains through April. World no.2 crypto Ether rose 0.1% to $1,808.30 after vastly lagging its major crypto peers in April.
XRP fell 1.7%, while Solana and Cardano moved in a 1% range.
Among meme tokens, $TRUMP fell slightly but retained a bulk of its over 50% surge in late-April. Dogecoin shed 0.4%.