Bitcoin breaks five-month losing streak as March spot buying and ETF inflows signal tentative recovery

Bitcoin ended a run of five consecutive monthly declines dating back to October 2025, with Bitfinex citing a 14.93% loss in February and a maximum drawdown of about 52.34% for the cycle, while early signs of recovery appeared in March. Since March 1, around $3.2 billion in BTC has reportedly been systematically bought at market prices across exchanges, helping the price reclaim the $65,000 level, and the Coinbase premium index turned positive after 40 straight days in negative territory, pointing to returning U.S. spot demand. Derivatives data show open interest has climbed to $53.1 billion, up 15.4% from Sunday's close, while the perpetual funding rate is near 9.5% APR, with Bitfinex noting this combination, alongside higher spot volumes, suggests the advance is driven mainly by spot absorption. Bitfinex also highlighted roughly $1.1 billion of net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs last week and more than $450 million combined on Monday and Tuesday, and its analysis argues that if key support and the $66,000 dynamic level hold, price could move toward the $72,000–$74,000 area in the near term and possibly the $80,000–$85,000 range over the next 1–3 months, maintaining a cautiously bullish stance.