TLDR
- Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Saturday, falling to $75,650, its lowest level since April 2025
- The cryptocurrency has lost over 30% of its value since peaking at $126,100 in October 2024
- About $111 billion in crypto market value and $1.6 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out in 24 hours
- Analysts say long-term holders are taking profits after last year’s ETF rally while new capital has stopped flowing into bitcoin
- Some analysts believe $75,650 may mark the deepest pullback of this cycle, though others predict further drops to $60,000
Bitcoin fell below $80,000 on Saturday, reaching a low of $75,650 as the world’s largest cryptocurrency extended a sharp decline that has erased more than 30% of its value since October 2024.
The drop marked bitcoin’s lowest level since April 2025. Ether declined as much as 17% while Solana briefly plunged over 17%, showing broad weakness across major tokens.
The selloff erased roughly $111 billion from the total crypto market capitalization in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. About $1.6 billion in leveraged long and short positions were liquidated over the same period, largely concentrated in bitcoin and ether, per data from market tracker Coinglass.
The latest leg down comes as thinning liquidity and muted buying interest have weighed on prices. Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, said bitcoin’s realized capitalization has largely flatlined, indicating that new money has stopped flowing into the asset.
“When market cap falls without realized cap growing, that’s not a bull market,” Ju said in a post on X.
Long-Term Holders Taking Profits
Early bitcoin holders have been sitting on substantial unrealized gains following months of aggressive buying by spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Michael Saylor’s Strategy. While those inflows helped anchor prices near $100,000 for much of last year, profit-taking by long-term holders has continued since early 2024.
That selling pressure is now colliding with a sharp slowdown in demand. Strategy had been a major driver of the rally, Ju said, adding that a deep crash of 70% is unlikely unless the firm begins selling its bitcoin holdings.
Saturday’s drop below $76,037 per coin put Strategy’s bitcoin position slightly underwater, but has not created any immediate financial stress for the firm, as CoinDesk reported.
Mixed Analyst Views on Bottom
Bitcoin analyst PlanC suggested the fall to $75,650 might have marked the low of this cycle. “Decent chance this will be the deepest pullback opportunity this Bitcoin bull run,” PlanC said in an X post on Saturday.
PlanC compared the current downturn to past crashes like the 2018 bear market capitulation when bitcoin fell to $3,000, the March 2020 crash when the asset fell to around $5,100, and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, which saw bitcoin dip to around $15,500.
“There is a decent chance we are going through another major capitulation low as we speak,” PlanC said. “It seems like the ultimate low will be between $75,000 and $80,000,” he added.
Bitcoin advocate and financial accountant Rajat Soni warned traders against overreacting to weekend volatility. “Never trust a weekend pump OR dump,” Soni said. “Bitcoin will make a comeback when you least expect it,” he added.
If history is any indication, the market cycle low for Bitcoin will occur between October 3rd to October 11th of 2026, plus or minus a few days.
I'm sure plenty of rallies will occur between now and then.
— Benjamin Cowen (@intocryptoverse) January 31, 2026
However, veteran trader Peter Brandt recently predicted that bitcoin could fall as low as $60,000 by the third quarter of 2026. Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen said bitcoin’s market cycle low will likely come in early October, but “anticipates plenty of rallies will occur between now and then.”
Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity’s director of global macroeconomic research, said 2026 could be a “year off” for bitcoin, with prices potentially falling to as low as $65,000.
Bitcoin is dropping as selling pressure persists, with no fresh capital coming in.
Realized Cap has flatlined, meaning no fresh capital. When market cap falls in that environment, it's not a bull market.
Early holders are sitting on big unrealized gains thanks to ETFs and MSTR… https://t.co/OnnzQMy6Ra pic.twitter.com/J0yTtCTQjr
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) February 1, 2026
Ki Young Ju expects the current downturn to resolve through a prolonged period of sideways trading rather than a swift rebound. “This bear market is more likely to form a wide-ranging consolidation,” he said.
Bitcoin has failed to rally despite a weaker U.S. dollar through much of January and gold’s surge to record highs. The asset saw little response as gold and silver reversed sharply on Friday. Delays around new U.S. market-structure rules for the crypto sector have further eroded investor confidence.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $78,690, down 38% from its all-time high of $126,100 reached on October 5, 2024.
