AI attracting funds and Bitcoin under pressure: The institutional fund reallocation logic behind the $64,000 mark

June 22, 2026, the crypto market maintains a suffocating calm. Bitcoin weakly oscillates below $64,000, according to Gate market data, with the price around $63,970 as of June 22, 2026, down 0.47% in 24 hours, with an intraday low of $63,270. Ethereum also weakens in tandem, currently around $1,727. The cryptocurrency fear and greed index has fallen to 20, entering "extreme fear" territory. Meanwhile, on the other end, the Nasdaq Composite closed at 26,517.93 points, up 1.91%; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index hit record highs intraday and at close; AI cloud service provider Nebius Group was officially included in the Nasdaq 100 index that day. Between this rise and fall, what is reflected is not simply market sentiment divergence, but a structural reallocation around institutional fund pools.

Data Profile: The Fragile Balance of Bitcoin Near $64,000

First, look at Bitcoin’s current price structure. According to Gate market data, Bitcoin’s price today is $64,233.3, with a market cap of approximately $1.28 trillion and a market share of 55.42%. Its price has changed by -0.07% in the past 24 hours, down 7.63% over the past 7 days, down 10.73% over the past 30 days, and has fallen 33.74% over the past year. This price is more than 49% below the all-time high of $126,193 set in October 2025.

From the details of the market, Bitcoin once dipped below the round number of $64,000 during the Asian trading session, with a low of $63,312. The strong resistance level is at the $64,500 to $65,000 range, which also marks the short-term bullish/bearish dividing line; key support below is at $63,000 to $63,200, and a break below could open the way to retest $62,200 or even $60,000.

ETH’s performance is similarly under pressure. Based on data from various platforms, Ethereum’s price fluctuates around $1,725 to $1,736, down about 26% since the beginning of the year. The BTC/ETH ratio is currently about 37x, reflecting that Ethereum has borne greater relative selling pressure during this capital rotation.

On the macro front, pressures are also significant. The latest Fed dot plot indicates expectations of rate hikes replacing rate cuts, continuously suppressing risk asset appetite. The Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates to 1% in June—its first such move since 1995—strengthening the yen and unwinding yen carry trades. When the BOJ took similar action in August 2025, Bitcoin dropped over 15% within 48 hours.

Structural Logic of “Zero-Sum Game” of Capital

Beneath the surface of Bitcoin’s price pressure lies a profound structural reallocation of institutional fund pools.

A Bernstein report released in June shows that Bitcoin treasury companies and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted only $12 billion in inflows in 2026, far below the $60 billion in the previous year—an 80% decline. Just spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of about $2.6 billion from their $75 billion asset base. The outflow from Bitcoin ETFs has continued into its sixth week. Over a shorter timeframe, net outflows from stablecoins, strategy funds, and spot Bitcoin ETFs totaled $8 billion over the past 30 days, setting a record.

Where did this capital go? The answer points to AI.

By 2026, AI is no longer just a narrative theme but a dominant capital allocation direction. Hedge funds and asset managers are continuously pouring into AI semiconductors, cloud computing, and infrastructure stocks—these assets offer visible revenue growth and earnings forecast revisions, providing more direct fundamental logic than Bitcoin.

More critically, an upcoming wave of AI IPOs is approaching. OpenAI filed confidential S-1 documents on June 8 with a valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic submitted an IPO application on June 1 with a valuation of $965 billion. SpaceX is conducting investor roadshows for a target financing amount of $1.77 trillion. These three AI giants have a combined valuation approaching $3.6 trillion, about 10% of the total market cap of the Nasdaq. CreditSights estimates that in 2026, the total capital expenditure of large-scale cloud service providers will exceed $12.8k, with about $17.7k allocated to AI hardware, servers, and networking equipment.

This capital rotation adds multiple pressures. After MicroStrategy (Strategy) broke the “no coin sale” record, the unrealized loss of $12 billion and an annual dividend obligation of $750 million to $800 million exert forced selling pressure. Crypto firms like Kraken, Ledger, and Grayscale have all paused their 2026 IPO plans due to the weak market environment—AI is not only pulling investment funds away but also snatching IPO market oxygen from crypto companies.

The birth of Bitcoin ETFs was seen as a milestone for mainstream adoption, but it also integrated Bitcoin into a unified institutional asset management pool. By 2026, Bitcoin has become one of the assets with the highest beta in the global risk-on/risk-off cycle, closely tied to stocks, interest rates, liquidity, and geopolitical factors. When institutions need funds to buy AI stocks, Bitcoin becomes the most convenient “cash machine.”

Gate Stock Trading: Building Bridges Between Crypto and TradFi

Amid this structural divergence of “AI eating the meat, BTC under pressure,” Gate’s multi-asset trading layout demonstrates unique value.

On June 1, 2026, Gate officially launched real stock trading services, becoming one of the first exchanges to directly connect to stock markets within a crypto platform. As of June 2026, Gate TradFi has listed over 11,500 real stocks and ETFs, covering the five major exchanges: NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, NYSE American, and BATS.

The core advantages of Gate’s real stock trading are reflected in three dimensions:

Extremely low fractional trading thresholds. Starting from just 0.01 shares, with a minimum of $1 to begin investing in stocks. For investors unable to buy high-priced tech stocks like Nvidia, Apple, or Microsoft in one go, this greatly lowers the participation barrier.

USDT direct settlement. Users do not need to exchange currencies, transfer cross-border, or open additional brokerage accounts—just use the USDT liquidity within Gate to buy stocks with one click. This completely eliminates the cumbersome process of “sell coins → withdraw fiat → cross-border remittance → deposit into broker.”

Compliance assurance and zero holding costs. All stock transactions are executed by compliant brokers holding US Broker-Dealer licenses and clearing qualifications, supported by assets held in DTC’s independent custody system, with full SIPC protection. More importantly, Gate’s stock spot trading has no funding rates, no swap fees, and no overnight fees. Compared to traditional brokers’ financing interest, the long-term holding cost advantage is significant.

Additionally, Gate stocks are fully integrated into the VIP tier system, where users with just $2,000 in holdings can enjoy a dedicated fee rate of 0.023% for stock trading. In June 2026, Gate also officially launched the “Direct IPO” service, allowing users to submit subscription requests before a company’s official listing, with SpaceX as the first project.

Conclusion

On June 22, 2026, Bitcoin hovers around $64,000, while AI stocks continue to strengthen, jointly outlining the core contradiction in today’s capital markets: this is not a simple bull-bear switch, but a structural reallocation of institutional fund pools between two asset classes.

Bitcoin has retreated over 49% from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,193, ETF fund flows have been net outflows for six consecutive weeks, and the fear and greed index has fallen to 20, in the “extreme fear” zone. Meanwhile, a nearly $3.6 trillion AI IPO candidate queue composed of OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX is draining risk capital that might have otherwise flowed into crypto markets. The advent of Bitcoin ETFs has integrated it into a unified institutional asset management pool, making it one of the most easily liquidated assets.

But in this structural change, Gate’s multi-asset trading layout offers a unique solution. Investors no longer need to choose between two worlds—through Gate’s stock trading features, they can use USDT to quickly allocate core stock assets, achieving true cross-asset allocation between crypto and TradFi. From the low threshold of fractional trading to USDT’s efficiency in settlement, from zero holding costs to the direct IPO service, Gate is completing a key leap from “cryptocurrency exchange” to “multi-asset allocation platform.”

The future capital flow depends on whether AI can continue to deliver verifiable profit growth and whether Bitcoin’s supply dynamics will trigger rotation at some critical point. But regardless of how the market evolves, the ability to manage crypto assets and stocks within the same account has become a core infrastructure for investors in this era of divergence.