Volatility expected as Bitcoin nears $100k: OKX CMO

OKX Global Marketing Director Haider Rafique warned of increasing volatility as Bitcoin approaches the $100,000 mark.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose close to $100,000 last week, but failed to break this psychological resistance level and managed to reach $93,428 at the time of writing. In a statement to Crypto.news, Rafique explained that the pullback was triggered by “profit-taking” among Bitcoin holders.

According to the OKX manager, many long-term investors who accumulated Bitcoin at the $30,000 level are now seeing returns of two to three times their initial investment at current prices. This positioned $100,000 as the key liquidation target for taking profits.

At the same time, significant selling pressure from profit takers is being offset by strong buyback momentum.

Rafique emphasized that institutions such as MicroStrategy, which continue to accumulate Bitcoin, reduce the available liquidity on exchanges and create upward price pressure.

“The current long/short ratio reflects a slight downward trend where short positions outweigh long positions. But this setup is unstable,” Rafique continued. According to him, “double-sided pressure” is likely to emerge as Bitcoin approaches $100,000.

On the one hand, long-term investors are expected to make profits, which creates selling pressure. On the other hand, if Bitcoin exceeds key thresholds, heavily leveraged short positions may face liquidation, triggering incremental buy orders to cover these positions.

Rafique emphasized that this combination is a recipe for increased volatility, with the potential for rapid price swings in both directions.

But he noted that short-term pullbacks are a possibility, but they are unlikely to last long or trigger widespread panic. Instead, Rafique suggested that these declines could present attractive opportunities for buyers to enter the market.

“If there are pullbacks, they will likely be seen as primary buying opportunities rather than triggering panic selling. Looking at Bitcoin’s history, when it dropped to the $50,000 level, there was so much buying demand that it quickly rose to $60,000.”

Other market experts also agree that the possibility of price corrections cannot be ruled out as BTC attempts to reach the six-figure milestone.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju noted in a post on November 26 that pullbacks of up to 30% are not uncommon during parabolic bull runs. He pointed to the 2021 cycle, where Bitcoin rose from $17,000 to $64,000 despite “multiple sharp corrections.”

Ju emphasized that the market remains in a “bull market”, advising investors to manage risks and avoid “panic selling at local bottoms”.

Analysts at QCP Capital echoed this sentiment in a recent investor note, calling the recent corrections “not panic-worthy” and adding that Bitcoin was “taking a breather” after its recent rally.