Wintermute: Institutional buying wanes, crypto market diverges from stock market trends

Deep Tide TechFlow News, May 26 — Wintermute issued a statement that as of May 25, BTC is quoted at approximately $76,600 (down 1.5% for the week), ETH is around $2,140 (down 1.7% for the week), while the U.S. stock market S&P 500 index hit a new all-time high during the same period, showing a clear divergence between the crypto market and equity markets. BTC spot ETF saw another outflow of about $1.26 billion in a single week, with total outflows exceeding $2 billion over two weeks. Previously, institutional buying support that pushed BTC from $70k to $80k has significantly waned.

ETH/BTC ratio continued to hit a 10-month low, down 35% from its August high. On the macro level, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell to a historic low of 44.8, and one-year inflation expectations rose to 4.8%; Nvidia’s Q1 revenue increased by 85% year-over-year, with Q2 guidance at $91 billion, but the market reacted minimally after hours, indicating AI trading has been fully priced in. Wintermute pointed out that the current key support level for BTC is between $75,000 and $76,000. If maintained, there is potential to retest $80,000; if broken, support levels at $70,000–$72,000 will quickly open, and the short-term direction depends on whether institutional funds return to the market.