Bitcoin Price Falls Despite ‘Really Bullish’ MSCI Update: What Went Wrong?

Bitcoin (BTC) fell 2.30% on Wednesday, hitting an intraday low near $91,550.

The decline came despite bullish signals, including a whale-linked $280 million BTC accumulation move and MSCI’s decision to keep crypto treasury companies in its benchmark indexes.

MSCI limits passive demand for Strategy’s shares

In the Tuesday announcement, MSCI said it will no longer adjust index weightings to reflect newly issued shares.

Previously, when companies like Strategy issued new equity to raise capital for Bitcoin purchases, passive funds tracking MSCI indexes were required to buy a portion of those shares, creating steady demand.

Under the new rules, this automatic buying no longer applies, reducing a key source of passive demand for Strategy’s stock.

Put simply, the Michael Saylor–led company will likely face limits on its ability to raise capital for additional Bitcoin purchases, prompting analyst Crypto Rover to say that the “MSCI fooled everyone” with their announcement.

“For those who are thinking this is a small deal, Strategy issued $15 billion+ in new shares in 2025,” he wrote in a Wednesday post, adding:

MSTR’s stock price dropped by 4.10% on Tuesday.

Technicals warn of BTC price losing $90,000 again

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin pulled back after testing the upper trendline of its prevailing ascending triangle pattern.

As of Wednesday, BTC held above its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA, the red wave) at about $91,7000, which acted as near-term support.

However, failure to sustain momentum above this level could expose downside risk toward the $88,000–$89,000 zone in January, aligning with the 20-day EMA (the green wave) and the triangle’s lower trendline.

Related: Bitcoin faces ‘big boy sell wall’ at $95K as BTC price struggles vs. gold

A further breakdown below the triangle’s lower boundary will likely result in an extended downtrend toward $79,450, a target measured after subtracting the triangle’s maximum height from the potential breakdown point near $88,300.

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