Bitcoin fell back into a trading range despite progress on the U.S. digital asset market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act. Although the cryptocurrency briefly climbed above $80,000, it failed to sustain momentum, while U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded large fund outflows that further weakened investor sentiment.
According to global cryptocurrency data platform CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin traded at $78,122 as of 2 p.m. KST on May 17, down 1.09% from 24 hours earlier.
Bitcoin rose to the $81,000 range after a revised version of the CLARITY Act, a U.S. digital asset market structure bill, passed the Senate Banking Committee on May 14. However, the rally quickly lost momentum, with Bitcoin returning to sideways trading in the upper-$70,000 range.
The revised legislation limits interest payments on simple stablecoin holdings while allowing rewards tied to activities such as payments and transactions using stablecoins. Markets viewed the bill positively because it could help clarify the legal status of cryptocurrencies and reduce regulatory uncertainty.
Despite those expectations, market sentiment cooled rapidly. Bitcoin has remained under pressure since reaching an all-time high of $126,198 in October last year, repeatedly moving within a $60,000-$80,000 range throughout 2026.
Fund outflows have also emerged in the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market.
According to data from Farside Investors, the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States recorded combined net outflows of $995.5 million from May 11 through May 15, marking the first weekly net outflow after six straight weeks of inflows. Using the article’s exchange rate, that equals about $10 billion converted from the original won figure.
On May 13 alone, investors pulled $630.4 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs, the largest single-day net outflow since Jan. 19.
Even so, some analysts say Bitcoin’s longer-term uptrend remains intact.
Cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe said Bitcoin’s broader trend still points upward and that the bear market has already ended.
“After previous bear markets ended, Bitcoin repeatedly rebounded toward the 50-week moving average before consolidating around that level,” he said. “The 50-week moving average is currently around $93,000, suggesting there is still room for additional upside.”
He added that, excluding the collapse of FTX in 2022, most market bottoms historically formed near the 200-week moving average, arguing that the bear market likely ended when Bitcoin touched the $60,000 level in February.