Bitcoin Climbs Above $64,100 as Strategy Disclosures and AI Jitters Weigh

Bitcoin rebounded to just above $64,100 in Asian morning hours on August 4, 2026, according to CoinDesk, recovering the $63,000 level after Monday's session dragged it as low as $62,250 — a roughly $1,850 intraday swing that played out against a backdrop of AI-trade jitters in Asian equity markets and fresh disclosures from Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy. The move came despite Strategy's Monday SEC filing revealing it sold 1,638 bitcoin for approximately $105 million between July 27 and August 2, its third bitcoin sale of 2026, at an average price of $63,957 — well below the company's $75,419 average cost basis.

Strategy's Below-Cost Sale and the Macro Handoff

Strategy's latest disposal is the most macro-relevant event in this recovery. Holdings now stand at 842,138 BTC, and the company has not bought any bitcoin in more than five weeks..

This matters for the macro-crypto correlation thesis. When the most prominent single corporate holder of bitcoin is selling into strength to service preferred equity obligations, it signals that financial engineering pressures are operating independently of bitcoin's price direction. The $105 million sale did not collapse the market — BTC absorbed it and bounced — but proceeds flowing into preferred dividends and STRC buybacks rather than back into bitcoin represents a shift from the accumulation posture that previously defined Strategy's approach. Proceeds flowing into STRC buybacks, not more BTC, suggests capital allocation discipline is overtaking the "never sell" posture that defined Strategy's earlier identity.

On the broader equity side, the macro handoff was mixed. The catalyst was AI-trade jitters rather than rate or dollar moves.

Altcoin Spread and Ether's Persistent Lag

BNB led the majors with nearly 5% gains over seven days, adding 1.5% on the day to nearly $591. XRP rose almost 1% to $1.08, up 2% on the week. Solana gained over 1% to nearly $74. Even Dogecoin and Tron added roughly 1% each, to 7 cents and 33 cents respectively. Hyperliquid's HYPE bounced over 4% to $54, though it remains down 3% on the week following last week's slide.

Ether's underperformance is the structural outlier. At approximately $1,865 on August 4 - marginally positive on the day but still down 1% over seven days - ETH is the only major asset in the red on the weekly view. This divergence between BTC's recovery and ETH's stagnation is consistent with a pattern where macro-driven risk appetite lifts BTC first, with Ethereum's recovery lagging due to its closer dependency on DeFi activity and gas demand cycles. The Fear and Greed Index sitting at 25 (Extreme Fear) confirms that broader market sentiment has not yet shifted to risk-on mode - the BTC bounce is more a floor-finding exercise than a sentiment reversal.

Background and Context: Supply Mechanics Under Pressure

The Coldcard wallet sweep situation adds an unusual supply-side variable to this macro picture. A fourth wave of sweeps against addresses generated by affected firmware ran through Monday, taking roughly 449 bitcoin from 709 addresses on the revised count, per the CoinDesk report. Galaxy Research had not confirmed whether the same operator was behind this fourth wave. The cumulative drain from the Coldcard vulnerability is now a measurable supply event - bitcoin moving from cold storage into unknown hands at current price levels effectively represents forced selling pressure, distinct from exchange outflows or miner distributions.

Separately, CoinDesk reported that a bitcoin wallet dormant since 2013 moved $31 million on August 4 - and is not the only long-dormant wallet to activate recently. Early-era BTC movements at current price levels carry supply implications: coins held since 2013 carry an enormous unrealised gain, and any conversion to fiat represents genuine selling pressure rather than profit-taking from recent buyers. For deeper context on how Bitcoin's fixed supply schedule interacts with these dynamics, see our guide on Bitcoin Halving Explained.

The intersection of Strategy's below-cost sales, ongoing Coldcard sweeps, and dormant wallet activations creates a nuanced supply picture. None of these individually is large enough to move the market decisively, but together they represent a higher-than-usual quantity of BTC moving from long-term or institutional holders into active circulation. For broader context on where this fits within longer-term market structure, see Crypto Market Cycles Explained. For cross-asset macro context on how these dynamics interact with traditional markets, WealthWatchPro macro market analysis tracks the dollar, rates, and risk-asset correlations in detail.

What to Watch: Key Levels and Catalysts

The most immediate test is whether bitcoin can hold above $63,000 through the U.S. trading session on August 4. That level has been reclaimed and surrendered twice in three days. A third failure at that level would represent a meaningful shift in market structure - specifically, evidence that the pool of buyers willing to step in below $62,500 is thinning. CoinDesk's reporting frames $62,500 as the critical support to monitor, rather than any specific macro trigger.

On the macro side, the Nasdaq 100's response to Palantir's raised guidance and Amazon's post-earnings weakness will shape overnight risk appetite feeding into Wednesday's Asian open. If the AI-trade correction in Asian equities deepens - particularly if the semiconductor index extends its 1% decline - the negative correlation between risk-off equity moves and BTC's safe-haven narrative will face another test. Strategy's disclosure that it has not bought bitcoin in more than five weeks also shifts the narrative: the firm that defined the corporate BTC accumulation trade is now in net-selling mode, which removes a consistent marginal buyer from the equation. Traders tracking institutional flows should weight that absence carefully.

Watch for any Galaxy Research update confirming or denying a single operator behind the fourth Coldcard sweep wave. Confirmation of a coordinated actor would elevate the security-risk premium on self-custody, while a fragmented picture would limit the contagion narrative. The departure of Matt Prusak as president of Trump-linked American Bitcoin for Giga Energy is a secondary signal worth monitoring for any shift in that firm's BTC strategy, though no immediate balance-sheet implications have been reported. Bitcoin's ability to print a higher low above $62,500 by the close of the U.S. session on August 4 is the cleanest near-term indicator of whether this recovery has structural support.