Bitcoin extended its recovery into a third consecutive week, rising to $74,509 — a price last seen on Feb. 4. The cryptocurrency is up about 22.5% from its Feb. 6 low near $60,000, and renewed institutional demand looks to be fueling much of the advance.
According to reports, Michael Saylor’s company, Strategy — the largest public holder of Bitcoin — purchased 22,237 BTC for roughly $1.57 billion over the past week. Bloomberg also reported that net inflows to the 12 U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $763 million last week, marking a third straight week of positive flows and signaling a resurgence of institutional confidence.
In Japan, Metaplanet announced a $255 million private placement intended to finance additional Bitcoin acquisitions. CEO Simon Gerovich said the capital raise will support the company’s pursuit of a target position of 210,000 BTC.
Market analysts pointed to improving structure beneath the price action. Bitfinex strategists noted Bitcoin reclaimed the $70,000 level ahead of the Federal Reserve’s March 18 FOMC meeting and described market structure as having ‘improved meaningfully,’ even though BTC has not yet pushed past local range highs. They highlighted an absorption-to-emissions ratio (AER) showing institutions absorbing nearly five times the daily miner supply, along with rising futures open interest, as signs of healthier market dynamics.
Hyblock analysts said the market appears to have shifted from a consolidation phase dominated by selling to one where traders are adding long-side leverage. Open interest is climbing, perpetual futures cumulative volume delta (CVD) has turned positive, and spot flows remain comparatively weak — suggesting the recent run toward the top of the range has been driven more by derivatives positioning than by spot-buying demand.
Taken together, the data points suggest a growing role for institutional and derivatives activity in the current rally, even as pure spot demand lags. Traders and investors will likely continue monitoring ETF flows, futures open interest, and on-chain metrics for signs that spot buying has returned in force or that leverage-driven moves are intensifying.
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