The Bitcoin price appears to be staging a massive recovery. This is partly driven by a taker buy/sell ratio of around 1.17, indicating that buyers are aggressively entering the market and willing to pay higher prices. While this looks powerful, market analysts warn it often signals an overheated market rather than a healthy one.
🔥 BULLISH: Bitcoin’s market buy-to-sell ratio hit 1.17, the highest since this cycle began in Jan 2023 per CryptoQuant. pic.twitter.com/aPjHE9ZR2T — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) December 3, 2025
Buying Pressure Isn’t the Same as Capital Inflow #
The buy/sell ratio measures urgency, not depth. In previous cycles, the indicator has risen precisely when markets were already heavily positioned, often driven by leverage trading. So while this signal may appear bullish, historically it’s more often associated with the end of a rally than with broad, stable inflows from long-term investors.
Bitcoin Is Screaming And M2 Velocity Is Whispering Something Else
A taker buy/sell ratio around 1.17 basically means the aggressive side of the market is hitting buy. On the surface, that looks powerful. But this ratio tends to spike when positioning is already crowded. It… https://t.co/l3axY4po0Q pic.twitter.com/JQnlzEajpJ — EndGame Macro (@onechancefreedm) December 3, 2025
On the other hand, there’s M2 velocity—the speed at which money circulates in the economy, or how often a dollar changes hands. In a dynamic economy, velocity rises. When there’s cooling, caution, and a tendency to save, it flattens out.
After a historic decline during the coronavirus period, velocity did bounce back somewhat. However, that rise has stalled in recent months. There is no longer accelerated circulation, no further revival of economic transaction flows. It’s like a runner losing acceleration—not falling, but no longer gaining speed.
Velocity moves in long arcs: years of rising, then years of flattening and decline. When the peak is reached, the economy often slows before it becomes visible in official figures.
Two Signals, One Point of Tension #
On one hand, we have Bitcoin being pushed higher by aggressive buy orders. On the other hand, we see an economic engine whose pace is not picking up further.
This tension fits a late-cycle market picture. Risk assets become louder, speculation accelerates, but the underlying economic energy is not increasing. A buy ratio can then be misleading: it shows heat, but not depth.
What Does This Mean for Investors? #
If Bitcoin continues to rise from here, it may not be because the macro climate is improving, but because leverage and positioning are overpowering fundamentals. Such rallies are often rapid and powerful, but the reversal is usually just as swift.
The market is leaning harder, while the broader economy is running flatter. This makes the move more explosive, but also more fragile. In that respect, a very exciting period lies ahead for the Bitcoin price. What do you think? Can Bitcoin hold on to its gains and squeeze out one more new period of records?