NEW YORK, May 11, 2026, 16:09 (EDT)
- Bitcoin hovered just under $82,000, unable to sustain momentum after briefly pushing past the widely tracked 200-day moving average.
- Fresh U.S.-Iran tensions were on traders’ minds, set against ETF inflows and the upcoming Senate look at the CLARITY Act.
- Strategy picked up another 535 bitcoin last week, a move that keeps corporate treasury demand in focus.
Bitcoin hovered just above $82,000 on Monday, giving up some ground after the weekend’s rebound faded. Traders kept an eye on fresh U.S.-Iran tensions while also digesting talk that Washington may inch toward a crypto market framework this week. Recently, bitcoin traded at $82,034, up 0.7% for the day, following an intraday high of $82,394.
Bitcoin is once more brushing up against a tricky technical and policy threshold. The cryptocurrency pushed up toward its 200-day moving average—sitting around $82,000, a key level for chart watchers, according to TradingView—but after two unsuccessful tries, it retreated again.
Fund inflows and talk of regulatory relief underpinned the market. According to The Economic Times, bitcoin hovered close to $81,000 even as robust U.S. employment data landed, with traders leaning on steady ETF buying and hopes pinned on the Senate’s upcoming CLARITY Act vote.
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to take up the CLARITY Act on May 14—a proposal aimed at sorting out whether crypto tokens should be classified as securities, commodities, or fall into a different category entirely. Committee chair Tim Scott announced plans for an executive session on that date, according to Reuters.
Akshat Siddhant, lead quant analyst at Mudrex, told The Economic Times that bitcoin stayed above $81,000, even as robust U.S. nonfarm payrolls dashed chances for quick rate cuts. According to Siddhant, weekend buying held up thanks to optimism surrounding the Senate’s CLARITY Act vote.
U.S. payrolls climbed by 115,000 in April—almost double the 62,000 jobs forecast by economists—and unemployment stayed put at 4.3%, according to Reuters. Strong jobs numbers like these tend to put pressure on riskier assets, since the Federal Reserve may see less urgency to lower interest rates.
Still, ETFs propped up demand. Siddhant flagged $630 million in net inflows to bitcoin ETFs last week. TradingView’s number came in close, putting spot bitcoin ETF inflows around $620 million, and tallying over $3.4 billion for the past six weeks. An ETF—short for exchange-traded fund—lets investors track the price without having to own the token itself.
The rally ran into a wall as geopolitics took the spotlight. President Donald Trump called the Iran ceasefire “on life support” after dismissing Tehran’s answer to a U.S. peace offer, Reuters said, keeping traders keyed on the Strait of Hormuz and persistent energy-market risks. Reuters
Oil finished close to 3% up on Monday after Trump weighed in—Brent crude found $104.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate touched $98.07. Elevated energy prices tend to stoke inflation worries, making rate cuts tougher. That’s not great news for riskier assets like crypto.
Corporate buying hasn’t let up. Strategy disclosed in a filing it picked up 535 bitcoin for $43 million between May 4 and May 10, paying an average of $80,340 per coin. That brings its total stash to 818,869 bitcoin.
The crypto market held its ground, though performance was uneven. Ethereum stuck close to $2,343. Solana hovered at $98.37—tracking bitcoin’s steadiness, not making any solo moves.
Pi42 co-founder and CEO Avinash Shekhar told The Economic Times crypto is caught between geopolitics, macro numbers and what traders expect from liquidity. U.S.-Iran tensions, U.S. CPI readings, and anything coming out of the Fed are all on investors’ radar.
There’s a risk the upbeat sentiment is already priced in. If the Senate markup falls through, oil jumps again, or inflation runs hot, traders could be back eyeing the $80,000 support level. Riya Sehgal, research analyst at Delta Exchange, pointed out that both bitcoin and ether are consolidating after rebounding sharply, with markets stalling close to resistance.
