Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $64,000 on February 23 at 20:15 UTC to trade at $63,950, a level last witnessed in late 2024. The flagship’s coin fear & greed index read 5/100, indicating extreme fear.
Source: Trading View
The crypto market’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is still in the region of oversold, as BTC’s open interest (OI) drops 0.69% to $44.67 billion in 24h. 164,471 traders have experienced a combined total of $621.69 million in liquidations, with the largest single liquidation happening on the HTX exchange and accounting for $61.51 million.
Bitcoin recorded an all-time-high of $126,272 on October 6, then saw the biggest ever single-day flash crash four days later. In what is now dubbed the “10/10 event”, liquidations on leveraged positions mounted to over $19 billion in just 24h.
Why is Bitcoin on a persistent downward spiral?
One of the primary triggers for Bitcoin’s price correction was US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports. Currently, this tax sits at 15% for global imports to the US, which has triggered major de-risking among crypto investors.
Among institutions, Bitcoin ETFs have recorded their fifth consecutive week of outflows, now totaling $3.8 billion. Outflows now account for a net $8 billion since late last year, with delays in the passage of the CLARITY Act further hurting market optimism.
Geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran have heightened fear among investors, causing them to switch to gold as a more stable store of value. Gold’s market cap has now risen to $36.4 trillion, with a 17% gain year-to-date. Cryptocurrency’s performance pales in comparison, with the overall market cap at $2.23 trillion, and a 25% backtrack of BTC from its new year’s price of over $88,000.
Source: Trading View
What next for Bitcoin?
Several analysts, including those from Standard Chartered, suggest Bitcoin could hit a bottom of $50,000 due to institutional capitulation. However, high trading volumes and net institutional inflows for at least three consecutive days could cause a reclamation of $68,000.
The likes of Grayscale and Bitwise suggest that Bitcoin now has the features of a mature asset, charting slow bullish trends in place of the historical four-year cycle.
Upcoming events that are expected to positively impact the price of Bitcoin include the passage of the CLARITY Act, the March 2026 mining of the 20 millionth BTC, and the appointment of Kevin Warsh as the new Federal Reserve Chair.