{"id":21714,"date":"2026-02-10T12:41:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wintermute-warns-ai-fueled-liquidity-drain-is-suffocating-bitcoin\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:42:20","slug":"wintermute-warns-ai-fueled-liquidity-drain-is-suffocating-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wintermute-warns-ai-fueled-liquidity-drain-is-suffocating-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"Wintermute warns AI-fueled liquidity drain is suffocating Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Wintermute says AI stocks are siphoning liquidity from crypto, leaving Bitcoin stuck in high\u2011volatility, low\u2011spot demand price discovery as U.S. selling and ETF outflows bite.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_77e40b2da561e91a72ed8234ff878320\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wintermute flags a rotation into AI assets, with U.S. counterparties and ETF redemptions driving persistent structural Bitcoin selling.\u200b<\/li>\n<li>Thin spot volumes and elevated leverage leave BTC in \u201csurrender\u2011style\u201d swings, with $60,000 acting as key downside liquidity in recent price action.\u200b<\/li>\n<li>A real recovery needs spot demand, a positive Coinbase premium, and stabilizing ETF flows as BTC trades near $68,700 and AI\u2011linked tokens show mixed momentum.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin\u2019s latest lurch lower is no mystery: liquidity is bleeding into the AI trade, and the crypto market is being left to dance on thinning ice.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"macro-rotation-and-wintermutes-warning\">Macro rotation and Wintermute\u2019s warning<\/h2>\n<p>Market maker Wintermute notes that Bitcoin \u201cbriefly fell to $60,000 last Monday, erasing all gains since Trump\u2019s election,\u201d as spot flows reveal \u201csignificant structural pressure.\u201d The firm highlights that the \u201cCoinbase premium has consistently been in a discount state\u2026 since last December, indicating ongoing selling pressure from the U.S.,\u201d while internal OTC data shows \u201cU.S. counterparties were the main sellers throughout the week,\u201d a trend \u201camplified by continuous ETF fund redemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kzr5QYb0L1\">https:\/\/t.co\/kzr5QYb0L1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wintermute (@wintermute_t) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wintermute_t\/status\/2021152048931361170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">February 10, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Wintermute argues that \u201cover the past few months, AI\u2011related assets have been continuously absorbing available market funds, crowding out the allocation space for other asset classes,\u201d with crypto underperformance largely explained by \u201cthe rotation of funds towards the AI sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"highvolatility-price-discovery\">High\u2011volatility price discovery<\/h2>\n<p>Last week\u2019s action resembled a \u201csurrender\u2011style clearing, with volatility soaring and buying support emerging at $60,000,\u201d Wintermute observes, adding that \u201cin an environment where spot trading remains relatively low, leverage has become the dominant factor in price fluctuations.\u201d Without a rebound in open interest, \u201cit will be difficult for the market to form sustained follow\u2011through on either the long or short side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A \u201ctrue structural recovery\u201d now hinges on \u201ca return of spot demand,\u201d a positive Coinbase premium, reversing ETF flows, and stabilizing basis, the firm says. Until then, Bitcoin is \u201centering a phase of high volatility and choppy price discovery,\u201d with direction \u201cincreasingly dominated by institutional fund flows from ETFs and derivatives channels\u201d as retail attention drifts elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Related coverage on structural selling and ETF flows can be found via ChainCatcher\u2019s analysis of Bitcoin slipping below key moving averages, BlackRock\u2019s renewed transfers to Coinbase Prime, and Hyperscale Data\u2019s growing BTC treasury holdings.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"spot-benchmarks-and-aicrypto-pulse\">Spot benchmarks and AI\u2011crypto pulse<\/h2>\n<p>At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades near $68,700, down less than 1% over 24 hours, on roughly $46B in volume, while total market value hovers around $1.37T. Ethereum\u2019s market cap stands near $242B, with about $28.6B changing hands in the last day.<\/p>\n<p>Within AI\u2011linked crypto, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance\u2019s FET token changes hands around $0.16, on roughly $39M in 24\u2011hour volume. Render (RENDER) trades close to $1.31, with about $35.8M in daily turnover. Akash Network (AKT) is near $0.32, with a market cap just under $92M and 24\u2011hour volume around $2.8M. SingularityNET (AGIX) sits near $0.07, on modest volume of around $41K.<\/p>\n<p>Wintermute\u2019s bottom line is blunt: \u201cFor crypto assets to outperform again, AI trading needs to cool down first.\u201d Until that rotation snaps back, Bitcoin\u2019s next act will be written in volatility, not in trend.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wintermute says AI stocks are siphoning liquidity from crypto, leaving Bitcoin stuck in high\u2011volatility, low\u2011spot demand price discovery as U.S. selling and ETF outflows bite. Summary Wintermute flags a rotation&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21715,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21714\/revisions\/21715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}