According to @Matt_Hougan, Bitcoin’s spot price is being set by marginal buyers from new professional investors, making shifts in net institutional demand the key driver. Source: Matt Hougan, X post dated Jan 13, 2026. He highlighted Bradley Duke’s question that recent BTC weakness blamed on deteriorating liquidity and long-term holder selling may instead reflect a fall in net institutional demand, implying prices would improve if that demand returns (presented as his hypothesis). Source: Bradley Duke, X post dated Jan 13, 2026; Matt Hougan, X post dated Jan 13, 2026. For trading, prioritize tracking U.S. spot BTC ETF creations and redemptions as a direct proxy for institutional net demand. Source: ETF issuers including iShares by BlackRock, Fidelity, ARK 21Shares daily flow reports; listing exchanges Cboe and Nasdaq public notices. Cross-check institutional positioning via CME Bitcoin futures open interest and the spot to futures basis to gauge leverage and demand intensity. Source: CME Group Bitcoin futures contract data and market statistics. Validate flow direction with net transfers on institutional venues such as Coinbase Institutional and LMAX Digital, and with large on-chain exchange flows from analytics providers. Source: Coinbase Institutional updates, LMAX Digital market data, and on-chain data providers such as Glassnode. A sustained pickup across these proxies would corroborate returning institutional demand, while deterioration would confirm the current thesis of weaker marginal buying. Source: Synthesis of the above sources and the institutional-demand thesis highlighted by Matt Hougan and Bradley Duke on X, Jan 13, 2026.

According to @rovercrc, ARK Invest bought about $145,000,000 worth of Bitcoin, stated in an X post on Sep 11, 2025, with no supporting documentation or links included in the post, source: @rovercrc on X, Sep 11, 2025. The post does not clarify whether the purchase was executed via an ETF, fund vehicle, or corporate treasury, which limits immediate verification pathways for traders, source: @rovercrc on X, Sep 11, 2025. Given the unverified nature of the claim, traders may treat it as a headline-driven sentiment catalyst and wait for official confirmation before adjusting exposure, source: @rovercrc on X, Sep 11, 2025. Until confirmation, traders can monitor BTC spot-futures basis, funding rates, and order book liquidity for potential headline-induced volatility and slippage risk, source: @rovercrc on X, Sep 11, 2025.