BTC/USD prices fell below $64,000 at the start of the Wall Street trading session on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, hitting a one-week low. This pullback was triggered by geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran, coupled with a series of bottlenecks in oil distribution routes in the Strait of Hormuz. These concerns briefly pushed crude oil prices up 5% in a single day, while dragging Bitcoin down 1.5% during Monday’s trading.
As crypto turned red, investor money flowed into precious metals. Gold prices rose to touch $4,435 per troy ounce on Tuesday, a high not seen since June 5. A report from The Kobeissi Letter noted that market participants injected $1.4 billion in new cash into the GLD gold ETF instrument in August. This figure is poised to be the first monthly inflow record for the gold instrument since February.
Caught Between Old Trends and the CPI Threat
From a technical analysis perspective, Bitcoin’s price remains stuck below its long-term trend indicator. BTC’s current position is held down below the 50-month EMA line at $65,827. Since early June, the leading coin has only managed to close daily prices above this EMA boundary three times.
This market condition has led analyst Michaël van de Poppe to believe that the latest downward move is likely just a liquidity sweep of leveraged long positions. According to him, Bitcoin needs a consolidation phase and a slight bounce back toward the $64,500 area to confirm that this downtrend will not continue further.
The real test this week will arrive on Wednesday, August 12, when the government releases the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data. Historically, crypto assets have often weakened ahead of key inflation data releases. As a reminder, July’s CPI report, which came in soft, triggered a daily price surge in Bitcoin of more than 4%.
Different Price Directions, Still Correlated
Although the weekly price charts for gold and Bitcoin moved in opposite directions, on-chain data shows a closely linked pattern. Monitoring by CryptoQuant shows that Bitcoin maintains a strong 90-day positive correlation with gold. This trend has led CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju to confirm that the correlation status between Bitcoin and gold has officially returned to the digital gold narrative era.
In the institutional market, short-term capital flows have also begun to shift. Daily data from lookonchain shows that Bitcoin ETFs lost 2,209 BTC, valued at $141.23 million, in a single day. However, on a weekly basis, the total inflow remains in the green at 8,545 BTC, worth $546.45 million. A similar pattern accompanied Ethereum ETF movements, which recorded a daily outflow of 14,499 ETH, worth $27.22 million, although its weekly holdings remained in a surplus of 110,579 ETH, valued at $207.62 million.
These daily red figures align with a pattern of caution among both retail and institutional investors ahead of the crucial data. Institutional money has temporarily moved to the sidelines, waiting for the market dust to settle before the inflation figures are fully revealed the day after tomorrow. Reported from Cointelegraph.
Also read: How to Read Candlesticks for Beginners
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
