As expected last week, bitcoin has tumbled – it has failed to break through the resistance near $44,600. As a result, BTC has returned to its previous support level near $36,000.

Why is BTC falling down

Bitcoin strongly correlates with the equities market, and not safe haven assets. The continuing war in Ukraine is creating fear among market players, resulting in an equity sell-off.

The weak performance of BTC has attracted the attention of traditional financial institutions. Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, queried why cryptocurrencies were not seeing larger inflows amid government control over money.

"Keeping an open mind about crypto, but given the inflating US dollar and the stark reminder that governments can and will under certain circumstances freeze accounts and block payments, wouldn't you think crypto would be having a moment now? Not seeing it in the price, so far," he tweeted.

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, expects the status quo to be eventually broken, which would allow BTC to perform its role of a long-term investment.

"There is a tension between conventional traders that see Bitcoin as something to buy or sell depending upon their current risk assessment & interest rate expectations, and fundamental investors that simply want to buy it all and hold forever," he commented.

Institutional investors acquire crypto assets

According to CoinShares, the digital assets market has faced inflows totaling $127 million last week, despite the negative performance of most cryptocurrencies in the market.

Compared to the previous week, digital assets inflows faced an uptick, most likely due to a slight recovery on the cryptocurrency market.

Geographically speaking, the positive sentiment and funds inflows were largely centered in North America. Inflows in North America totaled more than $150 million, compared with $24 million outflows from Europe. Bitcoin was the most popular asset among institutional investors - almost $100 million were moved to it.

Purpose ETF was the largest inflows provider for the cryptocurrency market with $130 million investment in the last week only. CoinShares XBT was the biggest loser – the fund's customers withdrew $21 million from the market.

Could market recover?

The return of institutional investors to the crypto markets could indicate the 3-month correction, which brought down the value of most digital assets by 50% on average, could be coming to an end. The market is possibly beginning to recover.

The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market remains at $1.9 trillion, up from $1.515 trillion in January 2022.

The price of BTC is falling within the $36,000-$44,600 range for the third time, in line with an earlier outlook suggesting that a triple bottom reversal pattern is emerging. While a bullish reversal could occur, it would not be confirmed until bitcoin bounces off its support upwards.