El Salvador Just Bought the Dip Again: Nearly 1,100 BTC in a Week and a 7,474 BTC Treasury

While much of the market is nursing losses after Bitcoin slipped under the 90,000 USD mark, one familiar buyer has stepped in with unusual confidence: the Republic of El Salvador. According to fresh data from the country's Bitcoin Office and treasury trackers, the government has added roughly 1,098 BTC over the past seven days, taking its total strategic reserve to about 7,474 BTC, valued in the region of 680 million dollars at current prices.

This is not just another tweet about buying a symbolic coin or two. It is the largest single burst of accumulation by El Salvador since it first adopted Bitcoin in 2021, and a clear departure from the quieter policy of purchasing one BTC per day that President Nayib Bukele introduced shortly after the FTX collapse in November 2022. It is also happening against a backdrop of renewed macro uncertainty, elevated ETF outflows and growing criticism that the latest dip may mark the start of a more prolonged downturn rather than a fleeting buying opportunity.

So what exactly is El Salvador doing, how does this week's move fit into its longer Bitcoin experiment, and what should professional investors read from a sovereign doubling down when so many short term participants are heading for the exits? To answer that, we need to look beyond the headlines and unpack the data, incentives and constraints shaping this decision.

1. The numbers behind the latest buying spree

The raw figures are straightforward. Over roughly seven days, government disclosures and on chain dashboards show that El Salvador has accumulated just over one thousand Bitcoin, with most of that total concentrated in a single purchase of around 1,090 BTC executed during one of the sharpest intraday dips below 90,000 USD. Aggregated sources place the total at approximately 1,098 BTC over the week, lifting the national balance to 7,474 BTC.

At current market prices, that stash is worth around 680 to 690 million dollars, depending on which spot index you use and how you account for intraday volatility. It also means that El Salvador now sits firmly in the top tier of sovereign and institutional Bitcoin holders, ahead of some listed companies and roughly in line with small ETFs and boutique funds.

Two aspects of this week's activity stand out:

• The pace is far above the previous rhythm. For nearly two years El Salvador's strategy was dominated by an ultra simple rule: buy one Bitcoin per day, regardless of price. That slow drip accumulated a meaningful position over time but rarely moved the needle on daily volumes. Adding almost 1,100 BTC in a single week is a different order of magnitude.
• The timing is explicitly contrarian. Rather than scaling back in the face of a double digit percentage drawdown from the all time high, the government has framed the purchase as intentionally buying the dip. The President's social media posts celebrating the new total, and community translations of the Bitcoin Office dashboard, make it clear this is presented as a strategic entry, not a reluctant averaging down.

On their own, these numbers tell us that El Salvador is not quietly backing away from its Bitcoin experiment under pressure from volatile prices or international lenders. Quite the opposite: it is leaning in, and doing so at size.

2. From FTX bottom to six figure Bitcoin: a track record in context

Much of the commentary around the latest buy references El Salvador's earlier decision to start purchasing one BTC per day in the immediate aftermath of the FTX collapse. In November 2022, as Bitcoin traded around the 15,000 to 16,000 dollar range and sentiment hit multi year lows, Bukele publicly announced a daily accumulation strategy. In hindsight, that window proved very close to the macro bottom of the previous cycle.

That track record matters because it shapes the narrative investors apply to the current move. Supporters point out that the same political leadership that was willing to accumulate aggressively when Bitcoin was deeply out of favour is now stepping up again amid fear. To them, the latest 1,100 BTC purchase is a continuation of a thesis that the earlier DCA policy has already validated.

However, a sober assessment has to grapple with the full history rather than only the highlight reel. El Salvador's Bitcoin journey began in 2021 at much higher prices, including purchases near the previous cycle peak in the high 60,000s. During the 2022 bear market, mark to market losses on the national stash were painful. It was only as the 2024 and 2025 rallies carried Bitcoin through fresh all time highs that the position moved convincingly into profit, according to independent trackers that monitor the reserve based on public wallet disclosures.

In other words, El Salvador's timing has not been consistently perfect. There were buys near the top as well as near the bottom. What has differentiated its strategy is less the precision of entries and more the willingness to keep holding through deep drawdowns and to continue accumulating when many private investors capitulated.

That perspective matters when evaluating today's decision. Buying almost 1,100 BTC below 90,000 USD will look masterful if the next leg of the cycle carries Bitcoin toward 150,000 or 200,000 USD and beyond. It will look far more controversial if the market slides into a prolonged winter with prices revisiting much lower levels. The country's previous experience shows that both scenarios are possible within a single political term.

3. Why accelerate now? Incentives, liquidity and politics

From a purely financial standpoint, the argument for buying into weakness is straightforward: if you have a long horizon and believe Bitcoin will continue appreciating over a multi year window, sharp drawdowns are opportunities to improve your average entry price. But sovereigns have more complex constraints than hedge funds or high net worth individuals. To understand why El Salvador has chosen this moment to accelerate, we need to consider three overlapping drivers.

3.1. A rare liquidity window

One of the lessons from earlier phases of El Salvador's Bitcoin policy is that buying size in thin markets is costly. In 2021 and early 2022, some of the government's purchases moved price against itself and attracted intense scrutiny from the International Monetary Fund and rating agencies worried about fiscal risk. Since then, the plumbing of the Bitcoin market has changed. Spot ETFs, larger custodians and deeper derivatives markets have increased dollar liquidity on the other side of large orders.

By striking while Bitcoin is already under pressure and volume is elevated, El Salvador can potentially execute a nine figure purchase without causing disproportionate slippage. In that sense, the current sell off is both a valuation and a liquidity opportunity: prices are lower, and there is more depth to absorb a big ticket.

3.2. Signalling to domestic and international audiences

El Salvador's Bitcoin policy has always been as much about narrative as about portfolio construction. Domestically, Bukele has framed Bitcoin as a symbol of technological progress and national independence. Internationally, it has become a calling card for attracting crypto tourism, offshore capital and attention from the digital asset industry.

Announcing a large dip purchase when global media are running negative headlines about Bitcoin allows the government to reinforce that identity. It tells domestic supporters that the original thesis remains intact and tells potential foreign investors that the country will not reverse course suddenly under pressure. That consistency can be attractive for certain types of capital, even if it alarms cautious bondholders.

3.3. Navigating the IMF and legal changes

The other side of the story is more delicate. Over the past two years, El Salvador has negotiated an extended program with the IMF that required modifications to its original Bitcoin law and tighter guardrails around public sector exposure to crypto assets. Official communications emphasise that recent increases in the strategic reserve are structured in a way that keeps them consistent with that program, often by clarifying that certain purchases flow through a specialised entity rather than the broader public balance sheet.

Critics argue that this is a legalistic distinction and that from a macro risk perspective, the country is still increasing its exposure to a volatile asset class. Supporters counter that a carefully ring fenced Bitcoin reserve, financed in a transparent way, can coexist with conventional fiscal discipline. Either way, ramping up purchases during a downturn is not a neutral act; it is a choice that balances diplomatic, financial and political considerations.

4. Is this catching the bottom or catching a falling knife?

The most common sceptical reaction to the latest buy can be summarised in a single question: what if this time is different? The FTX bottom provided a near perfect backdrop for El Salvador's daily accumulation policy because it coincided with forced deleveraging, maximum pessimism and the end of a multi year bear market. Buying there had asymmetric upside. Today's environment is more ambiguous.

On the one hand, the market has already delivered a substantial pullback from the recent all time high above 120,000 USD. Short term holders are heavily underwater, ETF flows have turned negative in recent weeks and funding rates have normalised from euphoric levels. From a cyclical perspective, this looks like a textbook shake out within an ongoing structural bull market rather than the start of a terminal decline.

On the other hand, macro headwinds are stronger than they were in late 2022. Rates have risen, liquidity conditions are tighter and regulatory regimes in major economies are more clearly defined. The marginal new buyer of Bitcoin in 2025 is not a degenerate trader with access to 100x leverage on offshore derivatives; it is a regulated fund manager facing strict risk limits, or a conservative family office that already holds an ETF position. That kind of investor is less likely to chase parabolic moves.

If global appetite for risk assets continues to deteriorate, Bitcoin could easily spend an extended period below today's levels, turning El Salvador's latest purchase into a drawdown rather than an immediate win. The phrase catching a falling knife exists for a reason: there is no guarantee that a strong conviction buy during a sell off will mark the exact bottom.

From a professional risk management standpoint, the key question is not whether El Salvador will be vindicated in a week or a month. It is whether the position size, financing structure and political context give the country enough runway to ride out further volatility without endangering fiscal stability or investor confidence. On that front, the jury is still out, and much depends on how the broader macro picture evolves.

5. What this means for the broader Bitcoin market

Beyond El Salvador itself, the latest accumulation wave carries several implications for Bitcoin as an asset class.

5.1. Sovereign demand as a psychological backstop

In absolute terms, 7,474 BTC is a tiny fraction of Bitcoin's total circulating supply, which is approaching 19.7 million coins. It cannot, by itself, define a hard price floor. However, the presence of a price insensitive sovereign buyer willing to deploy nine figure amounts into sharp dips does influence market psychology.

For some investors, it reinforces the narrative that Bitcoin is graduating from a speculative instrument into a kind of proto sovereign reserve asset. For others, it highlights concentration risk: a single emerging market state and a handful of corporate treasuries now control a non trivial slice of supply. Both reactions can coexist, but the long term signal is clear. Bitcoin is not just a playground for retail traders and hedge funds; it is increasingly entangled with national balance sheets.

5.2. Redistribution between cohorts

On chain, this week's purchases contribute to a broader pattern that has been building for months: coins are moving from short term, high sensitivity holders to entities with longer horizons. Recent data show that short term investors, those who bought in the last five months, are overwhelmingly sitting on losses, while long term holders have been distributing a portion of coins accumulated across several cycles.

El Salvador sits somewhere between those two extremes. It is a comparatively young holder in Bitcoin's history but one with a long declared time horizon. When it buys from panicking traders, it is acting as an intermediary in a classic cycle dynamic: weak hands capitulate, strong hands accumulate. Whether that process ultimately leads to a renewed bull leg or a drawn out range depends on how much fresh demand emerges once supply has been redistributed.

5.3. A benchmark for other states

Finally, El Salvador's actions provide a concrete data point for other governments and central banks quietly exploring digital asset exposure. Some will look at the week's headlines and conclude that the risk is too great; tying national finances to such a volatile asset in the middle of a macro slowdown may appear reckless. Others will focus on the long term performance of the reserve since the FTX bottom and see a case study in asymmetric upside.

Either way, the experiment is no longer theoretical. We now have a real world example of a state that has held through a 70 percent drawdown, endured harsh criticism from multilateral institutions, negotiated a compromise and is still willing to deploy capital into weakness. For better or worse, that example will inform future policy debates far beyond Central America.

6. How a professional should interpret this move

For traders and allocators trying to make sense of the latest headlines, a few practical observations may help.

First, El Salvador's purchase is not a timing signal in the usual sense. Sovereign decisions are driven by political and strategic considerations that extend beyond near term price patterns. The fact that the country is buying may tell you something about the leadership's conviction and risk tolerance; it does not guarantee that the local low is in.

Second, the scale and speed of the buy underline that liquidity remains robust in the Bitcoin market even during volatility spikes. Moving nearly 100 million dollars into spot BTC without visibly breaking the order book would have been far harder a few years ago. That is relevant for any institution planning to build or unwind sizable positions.

Third, this episode is a reminder that narratives about Bitcoin's death or inevitable uptrend often say more about the storyteller's timeframe than about the asset itself. The same week that short term holders confirm their largest unrealised loss pocket since the FTX era, a sovereign is willing to add aggressively. Both facts are true. The difference lies in whether you are operating on a days and weeks horizon, or a years and decades horizon.

Finally, for a news and analysis platform, the value is in connecting these dots rather than amplifying one side. Yes, there are legitimate concerns that El Salvador could be compounding risk at a vulnerable moment for its economy. Yes, there is also a coherent case that, in a world of debased fiat and political uncertainty, a small country allocating a slice of its treasury to a censorship resistant, globally traded asset is rational. The truth of the experiment will only be visible in hindsight. Until then, the job of serious analysis is to track the data, highlight the trade offs and resist the temptation to turn complex policy choices into simple memes.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, trading, legal or tax advice. Digital assets are highly volatile and may be unsuitable for many investors. Always conduct your own research and consider consulting a qualified professional before making financial decisions.