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Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise, asserted on Sunday, March 9, that US President Donald Trump will hold off on further Bitcoin purchases until it reaches a price close to $60,000. Park’s remarks, shared via his official account on X, were made against the backdrop of growing speculation around so-called “budget-neutral” methods the administration might use to acquire additional BTC for the recently established US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Why Trump Needs Bitcoin To Drop First

On March 6, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, positioning the United States to maintain a leading role in the digital asset space. The administration confirmed that it already controls roughly 200,000 BTC—valued at around $17 billion at current prices—seized primarily through criminal and civil asset forfeiture proceedings – pending an audit. While the Executive Order prohibits selling Bitcoin within the reserve, it directs the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to study “budget-neutral” ways of accumulating additional BTC in the future, ensuring no extra cost to taxpayers.

Jeff Park’s perspective cuts through the standard market commentary, focusing instead on the political realities that, he believes, heavily influence any presidential decision to buy BTC. In one of his posts, Park writes: “I’m going to let you in on a little secret from my primary field experience on how the BTC pitch works… I know one thing better about institutions than almost anyone else: public officials almost never buy bitcoin on trend/momentum and certainly not at the highs. The reason is simple – they don’t want to get fired when the inevitable drawdown hits or worse, ruin their reputation in the public domain.”

He goes on to argue that political figures, especially one as scrutinized as the US President, face an asymmetric risk profile. The fallout from buying at a higher price—only to see the market correct—can be devastating from a public-relations standpoint. Park surmises that the incentives for officials shift dramatically when BTC dips to more attractive levels.

He notes: “Can you imagine the headlines that will come for Trump if he buys bitcoin at $100k and it goes to $70k? On the positive side, if BTC gets to very cheap levels, the incentives for politicians and sovereigns to buy will increase… It is always +EV for the incentive calculation of an executive branch (which must win elections) to wait for BTC to get to $60k and buy and take credit.”

Park stresses that while a strategic reserve might be intended as a long-term store of value, public officials seek to avoid backlash in the event of immediate downside price volatility. This underlying political pressure, he contends, makes them less likely to make “high-risk” moves—especially ones that might expose them to questions about accountability.

The newly formed Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, often branded by the administration as a “digital Fort Knox,” is explicitly designed to remain untouched over the long haul. White House Crypto and AI Czar David Sacks has likened it to “a 21st-century bulwark of national financial security,” underscoring the administration’s ambitions for American cryptocurrency leadership.

However, Park argues that certain conditions must be met for a reserve program to gain genuine traction. Among them are “programmatic buying vs discretionary ‘studies,’” shared decision-making (to distribute accountability), and an element of permanence—either through legislative safeguards or authoritative action undertaken behind closed doors.

Park’s admiration for public pension Chief Investment Officers who have proactively incorporated Bitcoin also highlights the contrast in decision-making timelines: “This is at the core why I give so much RESPECT to the public pension CIOs that have bought BTC or invested in crypto strategies. They are simply true patriots – committed to long-term thinking for the benefit of all against the potential privatized loss of one’s self. Heroes.”

His applause underscores how these executives, unlike politicians seeking reelection or mindful of wide public scrutiny, often have more leeway to invest for the long haul, provided they have fiduciary guardrails in place.

At press time, BTC traded at $82,389.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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The Bitcoin (BTC) market is showing an extended sideways movement with no significant price action over the past day. Notably, the premier cryptocurrency has lost all market gains from its sudden 11% price surge from last week returning to previous consolidation levels around $86,000. According to popular crypto analyst Burak Kesmeci, Bitcoin is now set between two important price levels wielding sufficient potential for a substantial price swing.

Bitcoin Faces Make-Or-Break At $84k And $87k Liquidation Zones

Using a liquidation heatmap, Burak Kesmeci has highlighted two critical price levels that could be influential on Bitcoin’s next move. Generally, a liquidation heatmap visually represents the levels where leveraged positions, both long and short, are at risk of liquidation. The presence of dense clusters indicates that much liquidity is concentrated at a price, meaning many stop losses and liquidation orders are stacked there.

Regions with these massive liquidity often attract price movements as market makers and institutional traders tend to target these liquidity pockets to trigger liquidations thereby allowing them to buy at a discount or sell at a premium. According to Burak Kesmeci, the BTC 24-hour liquidation heatmap from CoinGlass suggests the flagship crypto asset is now between $84,849 and $87,043 representing two key price points crucial to its move.

Based on the analysis presented, $87,043 is serving as resistance suggesting that a price break above this level could trigger a short squeeze as short traders are forced to buy back their positions at higher prices contributing to the demand for a price rally. In this bullish case, BTC could rise to around $90,000 but will require strong buying pressure to push to higher price targets at $94,000 and $99,000.

Meanwhile, the $84,849 price region presents a crucial support zone that a price fall below which would cause the liquidation of a significant amount of long positions thus inducing a substantial selling pressure. If this projection occurs, BTC could find immediate support around $84,000 However, a potential dip to lower levels such as $83,000 or $80,000 may be feasible.

Bitcoin Price Overview

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $86,389 reflecting a minor 0.11% gain in the past day and a 0.76% gain in the last seven days. However, the premier cryptocurrency is down by 10.84% in the last month leaving most new market entrants in a deep loss.

Meanwhile, the BTC market trading market volume has crashed by 72.39% in the past day indicating a fall in market participation. While the liquidation heatmap analysis presented by Burak Kesmeci shows two likely pathways, investors should also note Bitcoin could remain range-bound between both liquidation zones barring the introduction of a significant market catalyst.

Featured image from Investopedia, chart from Tradingview

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The Bitcoin price started the week on a strong footing, jumping back above $90,000 following the announcement of a strategic crypto reserve by US President Donald Trump. However, the flagship cryptocurrency barely sustained this momentum, dropping back beneath the $90,000 level before midweek.

The recent market uncertainty is mirrored in the Bitcoin action, as the price has moved mostly sideways (after the initial pump) within the $82,000 – $92,000 range. The question now is — who is behind the constant price retracement and consolidation? 

Short-Term Sell-Offs Meet Long-Term Confidence: Analyst

In a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, an analyst with the pseudonym ShayanBTC discussed the divergence in investor behavior while using on-chain data to evaluate current market sentiment. The relevant on-chain indicator here is the Spent Output Age Bands (SOAB) metric, which sorts spent coins into categories depending on their age and as a proportion of total coins moved.

ShayanBTC specifically analyzed the bags of investors between the 1-week and 6-month cohorts (short-term holders) using the Spent Output Age Bands. Data from CryptoQuant shows that the selling activity of short-term investors drove the recent Bitcoin downturn. 

These investors, known for their rapid reactions to market fluctuations, have been actively depositing BTC onto exchanges — which can be associated with selling pressure. Considering the sensitive nature of short-term holders to market sentiment and technical resistance levels, their selling behavior aligns with Bitcoin’s recent struggle to sustain any bullish momentum.

Source: CryptoQuant

On the other hand, long-term investors (those holding BTC for more than 6 months) have shown no signs of capitulation. While some level of profit-taking can be seen among this group of Bitcoin holders, it seems to be rather gradual and consistent with the behavior seen in healthy bull markets rather than mass liquidations.

The activity of long-term Bitcoin investors suggests that they anticipate future price appreciation before offloading larger portions of their holdings, thereby reducing the BTC supply in the open market. ShayanBTC added that “if sufficient demand enters the market, this supply shrinkage could fuel further price appreciation.”

Interestingly, the latest on-chain data shows that Bitcoin’s long-term investors are not the only market participants refraining from offloading their assets. Crypto pundit Ali Martinez revealed in a post on X that the BTC miners have recorded zero selling activity since February 28.

Bitcoin Price At A Glance

As of this writing, the premier cryptocurrency is valued at around $86,200, reflecting a mere 0.5% price decline in the past 24 hours.

The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView

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