This Week’s Crypto Tape: No Crash, Just Gravity — Bitcoin Drifts While Institutions Rotate Toward SOL And XRP
In Brief
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market drifted lower this past week, reflecting macro uncertainty, volatile ETF flows, and cautious investor sentiment.
Some weeks the market screams, other weeks it sulks — and this past week it was one slow, heavy sigh. Prices didn’t fall off a cliff, they just kept sliding in that weary, reluctant way that makes you wonder if the market’s actually telling you something, or simply too tired. Let’s take a look at what really shaped this drift.
Bitcoin (BTC) and the crypto market at large
From 17–24 November, Bitcoin sank from the low $90Ks into the high $80Ks, even if the tail end of the week tried to muster a mild bounce.
What’s notable is that we didn’t see a collapse — it was just one of those stretches where you keep refreshing the chart thinking, “Is that it? Are we really just sliding?” And yeah, we really were.
What actually pushed BTC around this week
The story, if you zoom out, is one of a market that cannot decide what to do with the Fed. Early November had traders flirting with the idea of a December rate cut. Then those odds sank into the 30% range. This week though? They jumped again — almost doubling at one point — and of course Bitcoin perked up slightly because macro traders are basically Pavlov’s dogs at this point.
But let’s be honest: nobody trusted that signal. Rate-cut odds swinging that violently in a single month screams indecision, not conviction.
Then Nvidia happened. The whole tech complex shuddered, AI-bubble whispers resurfaced, and Bitcoin tracked that risk-off mood almost tick-for-tick. You could feel traders asking themselves, “Is this the beginning of a bigger deleveraging, or just everyone de-grossing ahead of year-end?” No one had a confident answer, and that uncertainty bleeds directly into price.
Meanwhile, ETF flows were their own soap opera. BlackRock’s IBIT saw some of its worst November outflows on record. And just a day later — small inflows. Another day later? More outflows. And it didn’t read quite like institutions fleeing — more like rebalancing under stress. Still, it added to the sense that big money wasn’t eagerly stepping in to defend anything.
And sentiment… ooof. Realised losses hit FTX-era levels. Retail was shaken. Whales were nibbling, but quietly. Traders keep asking themselves: “If realised losses look like this, how far is the real bottom?” And nobody really wants to answer that out loud.
Where does that leave BTC?
We’re still in that unpleasant in-between zone. Not crashing, not bottoming, not reversing, but merely drifting. If macro finally calms down and those ETF flows settle, this $85K–$90K pocket might just stabilise, who knows? But nothing about this week gave off an “okay, we’re done falling” type vibe.
Notable outliers amongst bearish fear
Surprisingly enough, a handful of pockets did show life. Not enough to declare any sort of altseason, of course, but enough that some investors didn’t spend the week stress-refreshing their portfolios.
- Solana ETFs — shockingly strong flows
Even as Bitcoin and Ether ETFs leaked money left and right, Solana ETPs kept attracting inflows. For ten straight days, in fact.
That didn’t save the SOL price — the whole market was too risk-off for that — but if you’re an investor who cares about who is buying, not what the ticker did this week, that was one of the few genuinely bullish datapoints.
It told us that institutions are still leaning into SOL even as they back away from BTC and ETH in the short term. Was SOL green? Unfortunately, no. But did SOL investors have a reason to smirk? Oh yes!
- XRP — same story, different flavour
XRP ETFs also kept pulling in money. Again, the price didn’t break upward (far from it), but inflows during a red week say something: someone with size is quietly accumulating.
XRP even had an ETF launch lined up — which is insane timing given the market backdrop — but the fact the issuer didn’t back out suggests demand is real.
- NMR (Numerai) — the one coin that actually pumped
Actual green candles were rare, but Numerai’s NMR token jumped over 40% after news of its university-endowment-backed funding round.
It wasn’t market-driven, it wasn’t macro-driven, and it definitely wasn’t correlation-driven. It was a very simple, very clean fundamental catalyst — capital and credibility flowing in from elite institutions.
So, anyone holding NMR this week were probably among of the only people in crypto who checked their portfolio and went: “Huh. That’s nice.” We’re not promoting anything here, by the way. Always do your due diligence.
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About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
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Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
