Bitcoin's 'Coinbase Premium' Flips Positive After Weeks in the Red

What to know:

• Bitcoin's price shows signs of U.S. buying strength as the Coinbase Premium Index turns positive after a month.
• BTC is hovering near $91,000, with resistance at $90,000 and a need to break $95,000 to regain momentum.
• Stablecoin balances on Binance hit a record, indicating potential market growth, while sentiment remains cautious.

Bitcoin’s rebound is starting to show its first meaningful sign of U.S. bid-side strength in weeks, with the Coinbase Premium Index turning positive after spending nearly a month below zero.

The premium — which tracks the price spread between Coinbase and the global market — acts as a read on U.S. capital flows in previous cycles. A negative print typically signals domestic outflows or risk aversion among U.S. institutions. A sustained positive print, by contrast, tends to coincide with ETF-driven buying and renewed dollar liquidity.

Thursday marked the first time since late October that Coinbase spot prices traded consistently above global averages.

Flows line up with the move. Stablecoin balances on Binance hit a record $51.1 billion in November, suggesting fresh firepower waiting on the sidelines. Options desks report a reset in positioning, with GSR flagging the clearance of speculative longs and a “market ready for growth” setup as skew and downside demand ease off local extremes.

In separate notes earlier this week, research firms Kronos and Presto characterized the recent bounce as a standard oversold recovery following two weeks of leveraged wipeouts.

Still, BTC remains pinned between two critical levels. FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich warned that $90,000 — a key reaction zone earlier this year — may now act as resistance, with bulls needing a firm break above $95,000 to reclaim trend.

A drop below $87,000 risks reopening the path toward $80,000 and extending November’s capitulation phase.

Meanwhile, he sentiment index has climbed to 25, exiting extreme fear but not yet signaling a full shift in psychology. Only one in seven major tokens posted gains over the past day, indicative of how narrow the rebound remains despite a crypto market cap still hovering near $3.1 trillion.