Crypto pundit X Finance Bull has highlighted how institutions are accumulating XRP amid the crypto market crash. His comment comes amid the XRP price drop below the psychological $1.6 level, which has further sparked bearish sentiments among retail investors. Institutions Are Still Accumulating Amid XRP Price Crash In an X post, X Finance Bull noted that while retail investors are panicking over the XRP price crash, institutional investors continue to accumulate the Ripple-linked token. The crypto pundit pointed to inflows into XRP ETFs, while Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs continue to see outflows. Based on this, he stated that the rotation is starting, with institutional investors moving from BTC and ETH to XRP. Related Reading: XRP Price At $10,000 Is Not A Prophecy: Analyst Shares Simple Framework That Points Higher SoSoValue data show that Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded outflows of $1.61 billion and $353 million, respectively, on January 30. Meanwhile, the XRP ETFs recorded a net inflow of $15.6 million. X Finance Bull noted that these inflows might be small now, but that direction matters. He further remarked that institutions don’t chase hype in choppy markets but rather position for fundamentals. The crypto pundit also noted that inflows into XRP ETFs, while Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs are bleeding, aren’t random. He highlighted fundamentals that are bullish for the XRP price despite the current market crash. This includes the token’s cross-border payments utility, which he noted solves a “Quadrillion-dollar problem.” He added that regulatory clarity is coming and that infrastructure is already in place. X Finance Bull expects the XRP price to be among the first to recover when the market rebounds, noting that capital flows to utility. He added that the smart money is already front-running that shift. The crypto pundit also believes that those investing in XRP now are still early, given that the XRP ETFs have just recorded $1.18 billion cumulative inflows in three months. Two Potential Paths For The Altcoin At The Moment Crypto analyst Egrag Crypto has highlighted two paths for the XRP price following its drop below $1.60. He stated that the first path is a double liquidity grab, whereby a relief bounce happens from here, followed by a second liquidity sweep and then an expansion. His accompanying chart showed that the second liquidity sweep could happen around $1.3. Meanwhile, the second path of the XRP price is a direct expansion, which aligns with the cycle fractal. Egrag Crypto stated that if history rhymes, the altcoin could record a 340% gain, similar to the 2021 bull cycle, or a larger 1,600% gain, similar to the 2017 bull cycle. A 340% surge and a 1,600% surge would put XRP at $7 and $27, respectively. Related Reading: Rising Above The Ashes: XRP ETFs Set New Record Despite Market Crash At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.54, down over 7% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin slid sharply over the weekend, breaking below $76,000 in thin trading and briefly dipping through the $75,000 area as selling accelerated late Saturday into Sunday. The move pushed BTC into a zone that technician Aksel Kibar has identified as a key band of horizontal support, roughly between $73.7K and $76.5K. The move didn’t come in a vacuum. Macro markets were already in a forced-risk-off posture, with a violent sell-off in precious metals feeding broader deleveraging dynamics, exactly the kind of tape that can amplify weekend volatility when liquidity thins out and stop levels get tested. Is The Bitcoin Bottom In? Kibar, a Chartered Market Technician and the founder of Tech Charts LLC, said in a series of posts on X that he’s watching the $73.7K and $76.5K closely, but not treating it as an automatic green light for longs. His message to traders: price reaching support is a location, not a signal, and the difference matters most when you’re trying to avoid catching a falling knife. In several posts dated Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 he stated that his process is built around classical chart patterns rather than “guessing” the low. “Reaching a support area is not in itself a classical chart pattern buy signal,” he wrote. “We need to see a bullish reversal chart pattern forming around support areas. But trading tactics differ. You might have a different way to take advantage of the recent price action.” Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Digital Gold Thesis Faces Reality As Gold Surges Ahead Kibar framed the current range as an area where a bottom could form, but emphasized that his approach is to wait for structure, specifically a reversal formation that changes the odds profile. On Jan. 30 he laid out why he won’t chase a level just because it’s on the map. “I’m not interested to find the support because I’m not trying to catch the falling knife,” he wrote. “I’m interested to find a bottom reversal pattern. A double bottom. A H&S bottom. I will always miss the boat if it is a V reversal.” That trade-off is deliberate, he added, and it’s part of knowing your own constraints: “Important to know your strength and weaknesses.” In a separate post, Kibar linked the “base building” concept to a concrete trigger: a breakout above $91.2K, which he described as the completion point of a double-bottom scenario he had referenced earlier. “When I say we need a base building, some sort of a classical chart pattern (preferably with horizontal boundaries), I’m referring to the breakout above 91.2K (completion of a double bottom),” he wrote, adding that confirmation is “even more crucial because we are below long-term average,” before he can “submit for bullish interpretation.” Kibar’s posts also pushed back on a common psychological trap in bottom-calling: confusing caution with fear. Responding to an X user who suggested he sounded bullish but reluctant to “make a call” to avoid being wrong, Kibar agreed with the setup but sharpened the motive. “Everything correct,” he replied. “Except not I don’t want to be wrong but to have higher conviction. We can’t act in markets with the fear of being wrong.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Is The Money Of The AI-Powered Economy: CryptoQuant CEO That distinction matters because it explains why his framework requires visible evidence of buyers stepping in, rather than a single level holding by default. When another user asked whether Bitcoin could be forming the right shoulder of a potential head-and-shoulders bottom, Kibar dismissed the timing: “Too early to start thinking about this.” In his most recent update, Kibar described the kinds of behaviors that, in his view, can hint at demand emerging around support. Instead of treating it as a checklist, he framed it as the “signs” that can show buyers are willing to defend the area: a pickup in activity and volatility, candlesticks that show rejection(such as doji-like structures with long lower wicks) and short-term reversal structures like double bottoms or head-and-shoulders bottoms. Kibar also introduced a market-structure point he said he learned while managing a large fund in the United Arab Emirates: “If there are no sellers, there will be no buyers.” He argued that large buyers often need meaningful supply to build size without moving price against themselves, and that heavy selling can sometimes be the condition that allows that accumulation, depending on motives and liquidity. He briefly extended that idea to Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), noting he wasn’t sure whether the firm “will be required (from an accounting perspective) to sell any assets,” but adding that, in his words, the market can be a “wild wild west,” where “some buyer out there might be after that chunk at a reasonable price.” At press time, Bitcoin traded at $76,713. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The bounce came as China factory data showed only mild growth, offering background support while dollar strength and thin exchange depth limit upside.
Bitcoin price started a major decline below $80,000. BTC is down over 10% and might soon test the $70,000 support zone. Bitcoin failed to remain above $82,500 and started another decline. The price is trading below $80,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $79,200 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair might dip further if it trades below the $75,000 and $74,000 levels. Bitcoin Price Dips Again Bitcoin price failed to remain stable above the $85,000 zone. BTC started a major decline below the $83,200 and $82,500 levels. The bears were able to push the price below $80,000. It spared major bearish moves, pushing the price below $78,000. A low was formed at $75,665, and the price is still signaling more downsides. There is also a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $79,200 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. Bitcoin is now trading below $78,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. If the price remains stable above $75,000, it could attempt a fresh increase. Immediate resistance is near the $78,500 level. The first key resistance is near the $79,200 level or the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $90,440 swing high to the $75,665 low. A close above the $79,200 resistance might send the price further higher. In the stated case, the price could rise and test the $82,000 resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $83,000 level or the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $90,440 swing high to the $75,665 low. The next barrier for the bulls could be $84,000 and $84,500. More Losses In BTC? If Bitcoin fails to rise above the $79,200 resistance zone, it could start another decline. Immediate support is near the $76,200 level. The first major support is near the $75,500 level. The next support is now near the $75,000 zone. Any more losses might send the price toward the $72,000 support in the near term. The main support sits at $70,000, below which BTC might struggle to recover in the near term. Technical indicators: Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $75,500, followed by $75,000. Major Resistance Levels – $79,200 and $82,000.
Options markets signaled rising tail risk as liquidations mounted, but January prediction odds adjusted slowly as bitcoin volatility unfolded.
Bitcoin’s price action has fallen into bearish territory after dropping below an important previous low that had supported the rally for months. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $78,560 after falling to as low as $77,082 in the past 24 hours, a move that crypto analyst XForceGlobal says represents a significant change in the technical structure. According to his detailed Elliott Wave analysis shared on X, the price action has now invalidated the bullish framework many traders were relying on, and lower levels are becoming more likely in the coming weeks and months. Related Reading: Ethereum Boost: Vitalik Buterin Sets Aside $45M In ETH For Privacy And Open Tech Breakdown Below Previous Low Changes Primary Wave Count According to XForceGlobal, Bitcoin had been working through a complex sideways structure, specifically a WXY combination that was expected to resolve through distribution rather than outright breakdown. Bulls managed to complete three of the five required components of this triangle-like structure, but the failure to defend the prior low was the signal that led to a structural shift. This prior low refers to the $82,000 low in November 2025. Bitcoin bulls failed to defend this low when the price action broke below $80,000 in the most recent 24 hours. Once that level gave way, the primary wave count could no longer be maintained. In terms of the Elliott Wave count, that lower low means that price action from the all-time high should now be treated as separated and corrective, not part of a healthy continuation. This restructuring gives the current decline more room to develop from a Fibonacci extension perspective and changes how minimum and maximum downside targets should be evaluated. Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: @XForceGlobal On X Two Bearish Scenarios Point To The Same Zone The resulting analysis shows two main scenarios of how Bitcoin’s price action can continue from here, both of which are converging on similar downside levels. The first is a flat correction, where Bitcoin is currently unfolding a C wave. Although XForceGlobal describes this as the least attractive option, it would still imply a full distribution range that invalidates a bullish structure and drags the Bitcoin price to as low as $60,000. The second scenario is a macro ending diagonal structured as a WXY move to the downside. This scenario uses the October 2025 all-time high above $126,000 as a cut point to improve wave separation of the current price action. Interestingly, the price projection from this scenario also aligns with targets in the same $60,000 area. Despite different technical paths, both interpretations point to comparable downside risk over the medium timeframe. Related Reading: Crypto Funds Bleed $1.80 Billion As Metals Rally Heats Up Now that the larger structure is now compromised, XForceGlobal says it makes sense to adopt a shorter-timeframe bearish bias while reorganizing the next wave count. The outlook is that Bitcoin continues its decline to at least $60,000 before rebounding to stage a return above $100,000. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
The “Bye America” trade has a habit of returning when markets stop debating whether the US is still the safest house on the block and start debating the price of living in it. Over the past week, that debate has shown up in the dollar. A weaker dollar is rarely a story by itself, but […]
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Bitcoin treasuries are designed to look uncomfortable in drawdowns, because the trade they're running is simple: take a volatile asset, put it on a corporate balance sheet, and finance more of it through capital markets. When Bitcoin drops, the mark-to-market hit is the point, not the punchline. The real question is whether the company can […]
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In a global investor survey from Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode, 1 in 4 institutions agreed that crypto has now entered a bear market. Yet the majority of institutions still said Bitcoin was undervalued, and most said they had held or increased exposure since October. That discrepancy matters because it captures how institutions are positioning right […]
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Bitcoin has once again fallen below a critical support zone, raising questions about whether the market is gearing up for a deeper sell-off. With selling pressure still intact, traders are now watching key levels closely to see if a final flush toward lower support is imminent. Price Faces Another Rejection MakroVision Research shared on X that Bitcoin has once again met strong rejection, resulting in a decisive break below several key support levels. Price has now slipped back into the range of the previous low and continues to trade beneath the critical green resistance zone between $85,200 and $86,200, highlighting that bearish pressure remains in control for now. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply In Loss Begins To Rise, Raising Early Bear Market Concerns On the very short-term timeframe, there are early signs of an attempted rebound, but without a timely and sustainable reclaim of the $85,200–$86,200 zone, this move is best viewed as a technical counter-bounce rather than the start of a meaningful trend reversal. As long as the price remains capped below this area, the broader short-term downtrend remains intact. From a tactical perspective, the $85,200–$86,200 region has become the key battlefield. A clean reclaim and hold above this zone would be the first clear indication that selling pressure is beginning to fade, potentially allowing for price stabilization and a relief rally. If this reclaim attempt fails, the risk of continued downside acceleration increases. In that case, focus would turn to the $72,300–$75,300 range, a technically prominent support zone with historical significance. This zone may ultimately serve as a potential support and reversal region should the market experience another phase of capitulation. CME Gap Opens: What To Expect From Bitcoin This Weekend Crypto analyst MartyParty, in a recent Bitcoin Wyckoff Accumulation update, highlighted that a CME gap is opening, which is expected to be filled by Sunday evening. This sets the stage for potential short-term volatility, with traders closely watching key technical levels and liquidation activity. Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Backs Off Resistance — Breakdown Or Brief Pause? Several scenarios are possible over the coming days. One possibility is the continued liquidation of remaining leveraged longs, with the lowest 25x Binance liquidation currently around $79,350, potentially completing the classic Wyckoff Spring pattern. Another scenario is a retest of secondary support at $81,800, which could act as a temporary floor for Bitcoin’s price action. If support at $81,800 holds, Bitcoin may trade sideways or attempt to push toward the primary support level, which has now turned into resistance at $84,800. The most probable scenario suggests a move up through $84,500 toward $86,463, followed by a retest of $84,500 on Sunday night as the CME gap is filled, completing the near-term Wyckoff accumulation setup. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com
Earlier this week, a sweeping US winter storm pushed Bitcoin miners to curtail, pulling a noticeable chunk of computing power off the network in a short window. Data shows a 40% dip in hashrate between Jan. 23 and Jan. 25, with around 455 EH/s going offline, and block production slowing to around 12 minutes for […]
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Investors stepped back this week as a mix of shifting bets and quick profit-taking pushed money out of spot crypto ETFs. Markets moved fast, and some of the biggest swings were driven by short-term reactions rather than a change in long-term views. Related Reading: Ethereum Boost: Vitalik Buterin Sets Aside $45M In ETH For Privacy And Open Tech Spot Crypto ETF Flows Based on reports from Farside, US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs saw about $1.50 billion leave over five trading days, while spot Ether ETFs had roughly $327 million in outflows. That adds up to about $1.80 billion pulled from these funds in just a few days. On Jan. 14, reports note a very large inflow for Bitcoin ETFs — $840 million — which shows how quickly money can go in and out. Some traders treated that day as a buying moment. Others used it to take profit. That push-and-pull shows up in the numbers. A Rally In Metals, Then A Sudden Drop Gold and silver grabbed attention when they climbed to fresh highs. Prices surged, and many investors moved money into precious metals. But the rally was short-lived. On a single trading day, gold fell sharply from its peak and silver tumbled even more. Reports say those sudden reversals left some investors rethinking their moves and helped create a wave of selling across other risk assets, including crypto. Bitcoin Price Action Bitcoin has been swinging. Over the past week, BTC fell about 6.50% while Ether dropped around 8.90%, and they were trading around $82,500 and $2,685, respectively, according to CoinMarketCap. The market had a short spike after talk of the US CLARITY Act, but prices then cooled. Moves like this are often tied to positioning, margin calls, and traders reacting to headlines. At times, large flows into ETFs have pushed prices up. Other times, outflows coincide with volatile days when traders close positions quickly. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Slide To $82K Sets Off A $1.7 Billion Chain Reaction What Analysts Are Saying Reports note that some market watchers view the pullback as temporary. ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the current negativity about Bitcoin’s price is short-sighted and pointed to strong performance in prior years as context. Another voice, Bitwise’s Matt Hougan, suggested that continued ETF demand could send Bitcoin into a much higher trajectory over time. These views reflect different timeframes — some focus on immediate flows, others on how steady demand might shape prices months from now. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Crypto analyst Maelius has alluded to Bitcoin’s historical performance to provide insights into how low the flagship crypto could drop before it reaches a bottom. He also alluded to the BTC.d, which he explained shows that BTC has yet to reach a bottom. How Low Can Bitcoin Drop Before Finding A Bottom In an X post, Maelius shared a chart indicating that Bitcoin could still drop below $60,000 before it finds a bottom. The analyst also highlighted the BTC dominance (BTC.d), which he noted usually crashes after the flagship crypto has topped, but that has not yet happened. He alluded to the 2017 and 2021 cycles, noting that they saw massive sell-offs and a bottom in BTC.d shortly after Bitcoin topped. Related Reading: Crypto Expert Says The Bitcoin Cycle Is Already Over, Here’s Why Based on his comments, Maelius also raised the possibility that Bitcoin may not have topped, which is why the BTC.d isn’t crashing yet. He remarked that fractal analysts say BTC has topped, but questioned why BTC.d hasn’t had a proper sell-off yet and is only just positioned to have one relatively soon. The analyst stated that one could argue Bitcoin hasn’t topped yet and that it’s still possible the flagship crypto could run toward previous highs, even as BTC.d still has to crash. He added that BTC.d had never been this high or looked this bearish when BTC was already in a bear market. In an earlier X post, the analyst stated that BTC was trying to confuse both sides. However, he remarked that higher prices are inevitable and will come soon enough, as the structure remains bullish, and that, until proven otherwise, bears cannot do anything about it. Until then, he urged market participants not to give up on their holdings by selling them at a discount. Analyst Reiterates That BTC Has Topped Popular crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen has reiterated that Bitcoin has topped, noting that VTC has always topped in the fourth quarter of the post-halving year. He suggested that the focus now should be on getting through this bear market, which he believes will last until the end of this year. Related Reading: Analyst Reveals How Far Bitcoin Price Will Crash If The Uptrend Doesn’t Continue He then alluded to a previous outline he had made on how things could play out for Bitcoin up until 2042. Cowen believes accumulation will occur between 2027 and 2028, which will then usher in the uptrend between 2029 and 2030. He predicted that BTC could reach between $300,000 and $500,000 by 2032, before another bear market between 2033 and 2034. The analyst predicted that Bitcoin would reach $1 million between 2040 and 2042 after the next bear market. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $83,900, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Pngtree, chart from Tradingview.com
After bouncing 2.6% from recent lows, Bitcoin (BTC) has been attempting to turn the $82,000-$83,000 area into support. Some analysts have warned that the cryptocurrency must hold the crucial macro support levels or it will “confirm bearish acceleration.” Related Reading: Ethereum Drops Below $2,800 As Crypto Liquidations Near $1B – Should Investors Worry? Bitcoin To Drop 76% From its Peak On Thursday, Bitcoin crashed alongside the rest of the market, retracing nearly 9% in a day toward the $81,314 area. BTC had been trading between $86,000-$93,500 since early November, closing above the lower boundary of its two-month range in the weekly timeframe despite constant volatility. At the moment, the flagship cryptocurrency has lost this key support in the daily timeframe and risks a deeper correction if the price doesn’t recover the $86,000 level before the end of the week. As the price hovers between levels not seen since the late November correction, a market observer has warned that the leading cryptocurrency has lost its 100-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA) as support. Ted Pillows asserted that the last two times Bitcoin had a weekly close below the 100-week EMA, back in 2018 and 2022, it dropped 50% in just 4-6 weeks. Moreover, he highlighted BTC’s historical pattern, noting that the cryptocurrency has repeated a similar performance between the 2017-2018 and 2021-2022 cycles. The chart shows an eight-year ascending trendline that has marked the top of the previous cycles. The trendline began during the late 2017 peak and continued into the next bull market, marking the 2021 cycle top too. Notably, the 2018 bear market correction saw Bitcoin retrace 83.11% from the ascending trendline, while the 2022 pullback had BTC dropping 77.57% from the cycle top. Per the chart, this has formed a rising support line that has marked where BTC’s price bottomed during previous bear markets. Now, Bitcoin has seemingly topped around the trendline once again and could retrace up to 76.88% toward the $30,000 mark in 2026, if history repeats. BTC Retests Macro Triangle Bottom Analyst Rekt Capital also shared his perspective on BTC’s recent pullback now that it has broken down from its weekly price range and is revisiting the $82,500 bottom of its Macro Triangle formation. The analyst explained that Bitcoin has been forming a triangle pattern in the monthly timeframe since mid-2024, similar to its 2021 triangle formation that preceded the previous bear market. Per the analysis, the flagship crypto has shown a nearly identical price action to its 2021-2022 performance, with the price respecting the macro support and descending resistance. A breakdown from the macro triangle bottom “would confirm Bearish Acceleration,” he noted, adding that for bull market continuation, the cryptocurrency would need to break and hold above the macro descending resistance on longer timeframes. “Until then, we have more evidence that maybe we will be following 2021 [performance]. (…) It’s just a little bit more compressed.” He also pointed out that BTC is displaying a similar Bull Market EMAs crossover that occurred during the early stages of the previous bear market. Related Reading: Analysts Say Dogecoin Consolidation Is About To End – Parabolic Run Or Crash Ahead? Rekt Capital highlighted that the imminent crossover does not necessarily predict additional downside, but “is effectively confirming weakness, kind of responding to the weakness that we are already seeing and have seen for a while.” “History is suggesting to us that if we continue to make these macro lower highs, which are a result of weakening demand at historical support regions, then there’s more reason to be bearish rather than bullish,” he concluded. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin’s sharp slide to $81,119 on January 30 came with a derivatives-market gut punch: forced long closures spiked to extreme levels, yet perpetual funding stayed decisively positive. That mix is complicating a common read, whether the market has already “cleansed” leverage or is still set up for repeat liquidation waves. Is The Bitcoin Deleveraging Over? On-Chain analyst Axel Adler Jr., in his Morning Brief, pointed to a “cascade of forced closures” over the past 24 hours, with long liquidations dominating the tape. His liquidation dominance oscillator tracking the balance of long versus short liquidations, printed roughly 97%, while the 30-day moving average rose to 31.4%. In plain market-structure terms, that says deleveraging pressure has been heavily one-sided, not just on the day but as a sustained pattern through the last month. The reason traders watch extremes like this is the tendency for liquidation flows to cluster and then fade, creating room for near-term stabilization. Adler framed that dynamic cautiously, stressing that an “extreme” reading is not the same thing as confirmation that sellers are done. Related Reading: Bitcoin Is The Money Of The AI-Powered Economy: CryptoQuant CEO “Oscillator extremes often coincide with the culmination of forced selling and can lead to short-term stabilization. However, this is not a reversal signal without confirmations — for a sustainable ‘local bottom’ scenario, it is important to see at least normalization of the oscillator to zero or a decline in the 30-day average.” That sets the first condition for calling the deleveraging cycle “over”: the liquidation imbalance has to cool, rather than simply peak. The bigger tension in Adler’s read is that even after the washout in price and the liquidation cascade, funding remained positive: 43.2% annualized on the day, by his figures. While that’s well below the 100%+ annualized levels seen during October–November peaks, it still implies a market paying to stay long rather than getting paid to short. Funding doesn’t just reflect sentiment; it reflects positioning pressure. If funding refuses to flip despite a selloff, it can mean longs are rebuilding exposure quickly, or that the market never fully unwound bullish leverage in the first place. Adler’s conclusion is that the latter risk is still on the table. “Positive Funding amid massive liquidations increases the risk of repeated deleveraging: this means the market is recovering long positioning quickly enough or is not ready to fully unwind it. Complete ‘derivatives capitulation’ is often accompanied by Funding transitioning to neutral or negative territory — this has not happened yet.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Death Cross That Last Preceded A 66% Drop Is Back In other words, the liquidation event may have been violent, but the incentives embedded in perps are still leaning toward long demand. That matters because it keeps the same fragility in place: a fresh downside impulse can turn newly reloaded longs into liquidation fuel again. Adler summed up the combined signal from the two charts as a washout that may be intense, but not necessarily final. “Together, the two charts paint a picture of likely incomplete deleveraging: liquidations hit longs extremely hard, but overall positioning remains tilted bullish. The liquidation cascade (long dominance ~97%) is a symptom of market overload with long positions, but not necessarily final cleansing. Persistently positive Funding (43% annualized) may indicate that demand for long exposure is not broken, and the deleveraging process is not complete.” Until those confirmations show up, the base case in his briefing is less “final capitulation” and more “incomplete deleveraging”, a market that has already flushed leverage once, but may not be done if long appetite stays intact through drawdowns. At press time, BTC traded at $82,968. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Gold and silver have recently dominated headlines, outperforming both Bitcoin and altcoins in the broader crypto market. While both precious metals recorded new all-time highs in 2026, many altcoins failed to reach similar milestones. Bitcoin, by contrast, did achieve an ATH in 2025; however, following that peak, its price retraced sharply to new lows. With this in mind, analysts argue that the strength of gold and silver does not pose a threat to digital assets. Instead, they interpret the divergence as a major bullish signal for Bitcoin and altcoins. Gold And Silver ATH Signals Bitcoin And Altcoins Upside Crypto market expert Mark Chadwick delivered a detailed analysis of precious metals and cryptocurrencies on X this week, pointing to what he calls “the biggest price divergence” ever recorded between gold and Bitcoin. His chart and analysis suggest that a strong performance in gold could be a major indicator for a potential rally in cryptocurrencies. Related Reading: Dogecoin Price Could Continue To Decline If This Doesn’t Happen; Analyst Chadwick noted that gold has surged aggressively, reaching an ATH of over $5,600 in January 2026. This price rally has pushed the metal into extreme overbought levels on higher timeframes. In contrast, Bitcoin is facing prolonged weakness and negative sentiment in 2026, despite reaching an all-time high above $126,000 in October 2025. The analyst suggested that this performance imbalance has reached levels that typically signal a major market shift. Gold and silver have been boosted by factors such as central bank accumulation, inflation hedging, and geopolitical pressures. At the same time, Bitcoin has been weighed down by tighter liquidity, reduced investor interest, and risk-off conditions. As a result, traditional safe-haven assets have entered overbought territory, leaving BTC and altcoins largely overlooked. Chadwick argues that markets move in cycles driven by sentiment and positioning. When one asset becomes excessively overbought, returns diminish, and capital seeks higher upside elsewhere. In past macro cycles, periods of strong performance in gold and silver have often been followed by capital rotating into higher-risk assets once fear subsides. Based on his analysis, Bitcoin’s current positioning reflects exhaustion rather than structural weakness. Chadwick believes that when manipulation ends and capital starts flowing out of gold and silver into BTC, it could set the stage for a sharp rebound in the leading cryptocurrency. Since altcoins typically follow Bitcoin’s performance, the analyst expects that once Bitcoin regains momentum, some of that profit could also rotate into select altcoins, fueling a price rally. Related Reading: XRP Prints Bullish Divergence On The Weekly Chart, But Is ATHs Still Possible? How High Bitcoin And Altcoins Could Rally Chadwick has stated that Bitcoin’s price could easily surge 10x as capital flows back into it and market sentiment and liquidity improve. However, the chart outlines a short-term rally, projecting a 91.60% rise to $170,000 from the $82,000 region. The analyst also predicted that altcoins could rise 50-100x, reflecting a staggering potential for gains in the crypto market. He concluded his analysis by emphasizing that smart money knows massive returns often come from diversification. From this perspective, the current ATHs of gold and silver do not undermine cryptocurrencies but signal an upcoming shift in capital. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin was designed to function as digital gold, a decentralised store of value that protects wealth from inflation, currency debasement, and the long-term dominance of the dollar. Currently, the market behaviour is telling a different story as de-dollarisation accelerates and investors seek safety from geopolitical risk and inflation pressures, with gold capturing the bulk of that capital. Is Bitcoin Still A Store Of Value Or A Risk Asset? Crypto investor Himanshu Sinha has stated on X that Bitcoin was supposed to be digital gold because it was built for de-dollarisation, but gold and silver are winning the trade and fulfilling that role. Over the past year, gold has risen by roughly 55%, silver has surged around 150%, while BTC has remained flat. Related Reading: What’s Going On With Bitcoin And The Stock Market? Analyst Breaks It Down The Central banks are the drivers; they don’t want volatility that they can’t manage, and they don’t want an asset that moves in lockstep with the Nasdaq. Instead, they want a controllable monetary infrastructure, and they’re buying gold at the highest rate in history. Just hours ago, gold hit $5,600, then collapsed by 8.21% in a straight vertical drop to $5,140, which is a textbook margin liquidation. At the same time, Microsoft dropped 11.7% as tech sold their gold because it was their only profitable asset, and the investors needed cash fast. This is the same liquidity contagion that used to be seen in the crypto market. According to Sinha, gold cannot be sanctioned in a bar. As the West weaponizes the dollar through sanctions and financial controls, the rest of the world needs a neutral exit. In the end, BTC still proved it is a speculative tool, while gold is proving to be the replacement. Why Gold Is Likely To Keep Outperforming Bitcoin A crypto trader known as Doctor Profit pointed out that nearly a year ago, he shared a Gold versus Bitcoin chart, highlighting that once 0.02 BTC equals 1 ounce of gold, it should mark the top for BTC. Meanwhile, when 0.11 BTC equals 1 ounce of gold, it marks the bottom for BTC. This happened in 2021 during the BTC top and during the BTC bottom in 2022. Related Reading: Expert Who Nailed The Bitcoin Top Now Says Buy At These Levels According to Doctor Profit, the analysis was later proven right this year by calling the BTC top at $125,000 at 0.02 for 1 ounce of gold. Calculating this move, if 1 BTC is $5,500 in gold price and divided by 0.11, it should be $50,000 BTC, which matches the analysis of BTC bottom for this cycle between $50,000 and $60,000 BTC. However, the analysis played out as expected. If calculated with a gold price of $7,000, the equivalent of BTC bottom should be around $63,000, which also aligns with the bottom target. In the Doctor Profit view, gold might continue to outperform BTC in the coming months. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
While gold has posted major gains, Bitcoin (BTC) continues to show major signs of weakness, with prices drifting toward lower support levels and now approaching the closely watched $82,000 mark, a pivotal point in determining the next major direction for the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Against this backdrop, market analyst Doctor Profit has drawn attention to what he describes as one of the most important charts of the current Bitcoin cycle: the Gold‑to‑Bitcoin (GOLD/BTC) ratio. What The Gold-To-Bitcoin Ratio Suggests According to Profit, this chart has repeatedly provided reliable signals for major market tops and bottoms. He noted that he first shared this framework nearly a year ago, highlighting a historical pattern in which Bitcoin tends to peak when 0.02 BTC equals one ounce of gold, and bottom when that ratio reaches 0.11 BTC per ounce. Related Reading: Bitcoin Slides Toward $85,000 Despite Progress On US Crypto Market Structure Bill Profit pointed out that this relationship played out during the previous cycle, accurately marking Bitcoin’s top in 2021 and its bottom in 2022. He argues that the same pattern has repeated in the current cycle, claiming Bitcoin’s recent top near $125,000 when the gold‑to‑Bitcoin ratio once again reached the 0.02 level. The key question now, he says, is whether the market will again reach the 0.11 BTC‑per‑ounce level that has historically signaled a bottom. Based on current prices, Profit walked through the math. Assuming a gold price of roughly $5,500 per ounce, dividing that figure by 0.11 implies a Bitcoin price near $50,000. That outcome, he noted, aligns with his broader expectation that Bitcoin’s cycle low could fall somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000. He added that even under a more bullish scenario for gold, the analysis still supports his thesis. If gold were to rise to $7,000 per ounce, the same ratio would imply a Bitcoin bottom near $63,000. In his view, both scenarios reinforce the idea that gold is likely to outperform Bitcoin in the coming months. BTC Nearing Late‑Cycle Bear Phase? Not all analysts, however, share that bearish outlook for Bitcoin. Offering a contrasting perspective, technical analyst Michael van de Poppe suggested that gold’s recent strength could be nearing exhaustion, potentially setting the stage for capital to rotate back into Bitcoin. Van de Poppe highlighted the relative strength index (RSI) of Bitcoin measured against gold on the weekly timeframe, noting that it has reached the lowest level ever recorded. In his assessment, this suggests a sharp imbalance in valuations, with one asset appearing overextended in the short term and the other deeply undervalued. He described the situation as part of what he calls the “big rotation” phase of the market cycle. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply In Loss Begins To Rise, Raising Early Bear Market Concerns The analyst also pointed to Bitcoin’s Z‑Score indicator, a metric used to assess whether the cryptocurrency is overvalued or undervalued by comparing its market capitalization to its realized capitalization, adjusted for volatility. According to van de Poppe, the current Z‑Score for Bitcoin is lower than it was at several major historical bottoms, including those seen in 2015, 2018, the COVID‑19 crash in 2020, and the 2022 bear market low. In his view, this signals that BTC is already deep into a bear‑market phase and may be approaching its final stages. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $83,435, with losses of 2.2% and 7% recorded in the 24-hour and seven-day time frames, respectively. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Crypto pundit BigShortRare has declared that a Litecoin price rally to between $1,200 and $2,000 is not a fantasy but a marketcap math. This came as he explained exactly how the altcoin will reach this price target based on its market cap and circulating supply. Why A Litecoin Price Rally To $2,000 Could Happen In an X post, BigShortRare noted that LTC has a circulating supply of roughly 76.78 million coins. As such, a $1,200 Litecoin price will give the altcoin a market cap of about $90 billion, while at $2,000 per LTC, the altcoin’s market cap is about $150 million. The pundit remarked that these numbers sound big until they are put in context. Related Reading: Here’s Why The Litecoin Price May Be Getting Ready For Another Massive Rally BigShortRare alluded to the fact that Bitcoin has already crossed $2 trillion in market cap in the past, while Ethereum has traded above a $500 billion market cap. Furthermore, he stated that in the previous cycle, capital has repeatedly concentrated into a few large, liquid, and battle-tested assets. Therefore, a Litecoin price rally to a $90 billion to $150 billion market cap would still be a fraction of Bitcoin’s market cap and well within historical altcoin concentration ranges during late-cycle rotation. BigShortRare also mentioned that what supports that valuation range is not illusion but structure. He explained that Litecoin is fully integrated across exchanges, wallets, payment processors, and merchant rails. The pundit added that the altcoin has a fixed supply, no VC overhang, no emissions surprises, and no dependency on speculative incentives. LTC is also said to function as a settlement and payment network, not a promise. “LTC Is The OG” BigShortRare also noted that LTC is an OG crypto project, which is another reason why he is confident that the Litecoin price can rally to as high as $2,000. He stated that when markets rotate from experimentation to reliability, capital doesn’t spread evenly but rather compresses into assets that already work at scale. Related Reading: XRP, HBAR, And Litecoin: Pundit Highlights Coins To Watch In 2026 The pundit remarked that a $1,200 to $2,000 price tag for LTC doesn’t require it to replace Bitcoin or Ethereum. Instead, it only requires the market to price Litecoin as a major monetary rail and not a side character. “That’s not a prediction of timing. It’s a valuation argument. Price decides when. Structure decides if,” he concluded. It is worth noting that BigShortRare’s thesis was in support of crypto analyst Surf’s prediction that the Litecoin price was about to rally to $2,000. His accompanying chart showed that the rally to this price target could happen by 2028. At the time of writing, the Litecoin price is trading at around $64, down over 5% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin has slipped below the $83,000 level as selling pressure continues to dominate global markets, extending a correction that has unfolded alongside broader risk-off conditions. Weakness across equities and commodities has weighed on investor sentiment, and Bitcoin has not been immune to this environment. With volatility elevated and liquidity thinning, market participants are increasingly cautious, and several analysts now point to the possibility of a deeper retracement toward lower demand zones before any meaningful stabilization can occur. Related Reading: XRP Risk-Adjusted Returns Signal Consolidation Rather Than Trend Formation – Details Beyond price action, on-chain data suggests that the Bitcoin network itself is entering a period of unusually low activity. Transaction demand has cooled, and miner fee generation remains muted, signaling limited urgency for blockspace. This “quiet” state reflects a market where speculative interest has faded, and organic usage is subdued, a combination that often emerges during corrective or transitional phases rather than during strong uptrends. At the same time, the lack of aggressive on-chain selling pressure indicates that the move lower is not being driven by panic but by persistent distribution and reduced participation. This creates an environment where price can drift lower with relatively little resistance. As Bitcoin searches for its next area of support, the coming sessions will be critical in determining whether current weakness evolves into a deeper correction or forms the foundation for a more durable base once activity and demand begin to recover. Bitcoin Miner Fees Signal Prolonged Network Dormancy An analysis from Onchain Mind highlights a key metric for assessing the underlying health of the Bitcoin network: the Miner Fees to Block Subsidy Ratio. This indicator measures how much of miners’ revenue comes from transaction fees compared to the fixed block reward, making it a direct proxy for organic demand for blockspace. When users are competing to have transactions included in blocks, fees rise, and this ratio increases. When activity slows, the ratio compresses. Since July, this metric has remained pinned below 1%, marking a sharp and sustained cooldown in network usage. This stands in stark contrast to the conditions seen last May, when the ratio surged above 15% during periods of heightened on-chain activity and speculative demand. At that time, elevated fees reflected strong competition for blockspace and a network operating near capacity. The current environment tells a very different story. Persistently low fee contribution suggests that transaction urgency has largely evaporated, with users showing little willingness to pay premium fees for settlement. Historically, such prolonged periods of subdued fee pressure have been associated with bear market phases, when participation declines and on-chain activity contracts. This does not signal immediate stress for miners, given the dominance of the block subsidy in revenue. However, it does underline a broader slowdown in network engagement, reinforcing the view that Bitcoin is currently operating in a low-demand, defensive phase rather than a growth-driven one. Related Reading: Bitmine Stakes Additional 250,912 Ethereum Worth $745M – 61% Is Now Staked Bitcoin Breaks Key Support As Bearish Structure Strengthens Bitcoin’s price action continues to reflect a market under sustained pressure. BTC is now trading near the $83,000 area after failing to hold recent consolidation lows. The chart shows a clear sequence of lower highs and lower lows since the November peak. Confirming that the broader structure remains bearish rather than corrective. Price is firmly below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, both of which are sloping downward and acting as dynamic resistance, while the 200-day moving average remains well above current levels, reinforcing the loss of long-term trend support. Related Reading: OKX Launches Crypto Payment Card Across the European Economic Area The recent breakdown below the $85,000–$84,000 zone is technically significant. This area had previously acted as a short-term base during December and early January. But the failure to defend it suggests that buyers are no longer willing to absorb supply at these levels. Volume spikes accompanying the latest sell-off indicate distribution rather than capitulation, pointing to continued, orderly selling pressure. The market is transitioning into a price discovery phase toward lower demand zones. If downside momentum persists, the next areas of interest lie near the $80,000 psychological level. Followed by deeper support closer to the low-$70,000 range, where previous consolidation occurred in mid-2024. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
After a bruising 2025, Hougan sees sideways Bitcoin trading, rising institutional interest and early central bank curiosity setting up the next cycle.
Bitcoin’s Thursday slide was a perfect illustration of a market that lost its marginal buyer and then discovered, in real time, how much leverage was sitting on top of that demand. The move wasn't a smooth ride lower; it came in sharp legs that pushed the price from $84,400 toward the low-$81,000s in a matter […]
The post Bitcoin reversal on the cards after $1.7 billion liquidation wave flushed out overleveraged traders appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Bitcoin drifted under $83,000 on Thursday as market focus shifted toward how liquidity is stacked on exchanges. Reports say a mix of big orders and tight ranges has left traders feeling boxed in. Some analysts warn that a break under a key level could spark sharper selling, while others point to concentrated buy orders that might cushion a drop. Related Reading: Gold, Silver Steal The Spotlight As Crypto Hype Fades On Social Media: Santiment Order-Book Pressure And Liquidity According to trading-room data, one group or a cluster of large accounts appears to be shaping short-term moves by placing big bids and offers in the order book. This can keep price stuck in a narrow band. Material Indicators’ research flagged a pattern where bids are clustering around $85,000 to $87,500 — a zone that could act like a floor for now. The idea is simple: by piling up liquidity at certain prices, large players can get fills on their orders or discourage quick recoveries before options expiry. Market participants say this kind of behavior can trap less-experienced traders who react to sudden moves. At times, the pressure seems deliberate; at other times, it may be a byproduct of many traders aiming for the same levels. Either way, the result has been choppy price action and rising tension in the book. FireCharts shows $BTC price is being suppressed by one entity using a liquidity herding strategy to push price lower, potentially to get their own bids filled, or possible to keep price pinned in the lower end of this range before Friday’s options expiry. A significant amount of… pic.twitter.com/c63miAxBkh — Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) January 29, 2026 Whales, Wyckoff And The Spring Idea Reports note that a group of traders using Wyckoff-style thinking expects a “spring” — a drop below recent lows that then leads to a strong bounce as heavy hands buy at lower prices. Pseudonymous analysts have pointed to $86,000 as a strong buy wall provided by large orders. One commentator shared charts showing how a quick dip under $80,000 could serve as the spring before a rebound. Some traders view this pattern as part of accumulation. Others see it as a risky setup that could widen losses if support fails. The truth may sit between those views: both accumulation and the risk of a flush are possible in a tense market. Bitcoin Price Action Bitcoin has been moving in a tight range after failing to hold above $90,000. Price slid near $82,300 as fresh worries about monetary policy and world events hit risk assets. Volatility has been low at times and then spikes quickly, which makes trading tricky. Buyers have stepped in at certain levels, but they have not yet forced a clear break higher. Geopolitics And Fed Moves Reports say rising tensions in parts of the Middle East and talk about a new Federal Reserve chair pick have added to uncertainty. Some investors fear tighter policy would drain liquidity from markets and weigh on crypto. Market chatter has even mentioned US President Donald Trump in relation to political shifts that could influence economic policy. Safe-haven flows into other assets have been seen when headlines worsen, and those moves have pulled money away from riskier holdings. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Slide To $82K Sets Off A $1.7 Billion Chain Reaction Key Levels To Watch Traders should watch the $83,000–$85,000 zone closely. A daily close below $86,000 would be read by many as a negative sign and could open the door to deeper selling. On the flip side, sustained buying at those levels could set up a rally if big liquidity holders decide to lift offers. For most people, patience and clear stop rules matter right now, because the market is being pushed by both order-book tactics and outside news, and either factor can shift price fast. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Questions are already surfacing over whether Bitcoin is still in the expansion phase that many market participants assume it is. However, a crypto expert opted for a conservative stance, arguing that when Bitcoin is analyzed through traditional cycle theory and macroeconomic indicators, the primary cycle may already be complete. This crypto expert, Tony Severino, challenged popular bullish claims from “snake oil salesmen” and instead pointed to economic data and historical patterns that show the Bitcoin cycle has already transitioned into a different phase. PMI And ISM Datan Shows Where Bitcoin Is According to Tony Severino, Bitcoin’s bullish cycle is already over, and analysts saying otherwise are pushing a fairy tale that may or may not come true. Severino’s outlook is based on the U.S. ISM Purchasing Managers’ Index, which he views as a reliable macro gauge for cyclical behavior. Related Reading: Global Liquidity Says Bitcoin Is Extremely Undervalued – Here’s The ‘Real’ Figure The PMI data shown in the chart below highlights a clear pattern of lower highs and lower lows, which is a signal of a weakening manufacturing environment. According to Severino, real cycles are measured from trough to trough, not from speculative projections of future upside. From that perspective, the current PMI structure means that the cycle has already peaked and is now rolling over. At the time of writing, this index is sitting around 47.9. Severino warned that a sustained move below the 46 level would change the PMI from a local pullback into a more pronounced intermediate downtrend. A drop beneath 41.6 would carry even more serious implications, as that level would fall below the COVID-era low. Such a move would leave only extreme historical comparisons, including conditions last seen during the 2007-2009 Great Financial Crisis or the stagflation period of the 1970s and early 1980s. Therefore, this macro backdrop directly challenges the idea that Bitcoin is on the verge of a guaranteed new bullish phase. Severino also took direct aim at popular Bitcoin valuation models that compare BTC to gold or rely on long-term projections detached from economic reality. The current reality is that Bitcoin is lagging behind gold and silver, which are attracting consistent inflows in contrast to Bitcoin’s show of fatigue around $80,000. Bullish Conviction To Bearish Targets Severino’s current stance is notable because it is a significant difference from his outlook before the current cycle began, when he was very bullish on Bitcoin. His recent analysis, shown in the chart below, shows Bitcoin breaking below a moving average on the monthly candlestick timeframe. This is notable because similar breakdowns in previous years were followed by drawdowns averaging around 50%. Related Reading: Analyst Reveals How Far Bitcoin Price Will Crash If The Uptrend Doesn’t Continue The chart highlights multiple instances where Bitcoin suffered declines of 40% to over 60% after losing this type of technical support. Based on that historical behavior, Severino has floated a downside target of at least $45,000 before another bullish reversal. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin slid sharply this week, hitting just above $82,000 in early US trading and triggering a wide purge of crowded positions. Based on data from Coinglass, roughly 270,000 accounts were wiped out across exchanges in the past day, and close to $1.70 billion in total liquidations was recorded. Many of the losses came from traders who had bet that prices would keep rising. Related Reading: Gold, Silver Steal The Spotlight As Crypto Hype Fades On Social Media: Santiment Liquidations And Market Shock The move was fast. Long bets were the hardest hit. Reports say over 90% of the liquidated contracts were long positions, mostly in Bitcoin and Ether. The market was shaken quickly as stop orders were pulled and margin calls were forced. Price gaps showed up on some platforms and volatility spiked. This kind of clearing event can leave prices unstable for a bit, even after traders calm down. Geopolitics And Policy Pressure Reports note heightened tensions in the Middle East added fuel to the selloff. A US warship deployment and renewed public statements from US President Donald Trump put risk assets on edge. At the same time, an executive action linked to tariffs on goods tied to certain oil deals raised fresh concern among global traders. Risk appetite cooled as investors mulled how those moves might affect energy flows and trade. Tech Earnings And Investor Mood Microsoft’s earnings miss was another note in the mix. Some big tech names fell hard after results that showed rising costs and slower growth in cloud services. That made investors question the near-term outlook for AI-driven growth stories. With confidence wobbling in both stocks and crypto, many reduced exposure. The market atmosphere turned cautious and buying dried up in minutes. Bitcoin price action, risk aversion and volatility amid conflict headlines were both feeding into the selling. News feeds were full of sharp alerts. Traders who follow headlines closely found themselves adjusting positions quickly. Support Test And Wider Market Drops Bitcoin is trading near a higher-timeframe support area that mattered in recent months. Weekly closes have been caged between roughly $94,000 and $84,000 for several weeks, and that structure faces another test now. If buyers do not step in, deeper weakness could follow. Reports say the wider crypto market lost around $200 billion in value across tokens during the worst of the move. What Traders Are Saying Some analysts called the reaction overblown and noted that prices had already been falling since October. Others warned that a longer correction could be in play if macro pressures persist. Related Reading: Banks And Crypto Firms Back At The Table As CLARITY Talks Restart Benjamin Cowen warned that Bitcoin may continue to act weak compared with stocks, suggesting any hoped-for rapid flip from gold or silver into crypto might not happen fast. According to Trading Economics, gold and silver have climbed to record levels, with gold reaching $5,608 per ounce and silver rising to $121.60. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju revived the “Bitcoin equals energy” thesis on Wednesday, arguing that proof-of-work is becoming the settlement layer for an AI-driven economy where power, not narratives, is the binding constraint. In a post on X, Ju framed Bitcoin as a digital instrument that can price energy with precision in a way commodities can’t. “Energy is money. Bitcoin precisely measures the value of energy,” Ju wrote. “Gold also embeds energy, but it cannot be measured accurately because it is not digital. Bitcoin is the money of an AI-accelerated energy economy.” The Link Between AI, Energy And Bitcoin Ju’s comments were posted alongside a long-form X post by Hashed CEO Simon Kim titled Monetizing Energy: Redefining Bitcoin’s Role in the AI Era, which argues that the old “energy waste” critique is being overtaken by an AI data center buildout that is rewriting the value of mining infrastructure. Kim’s core claim is that the debate has shifted from morality to grid economics and industrial pragmatism. “The oldest criticism of Bitcoin has always been about energy,” he wrote. “Claims that it ‘wastes electricity,’ ‘destroys the environment,’ and ‘competes with data centers for power’ have been repeated for over a decade, solidifying into conventional wisdom. But in 2026, this debate no longer resides in the realm of moral condemnation.” The thread points to capital flows as a tell. Kim highlighted Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala’s $437 million allocation to BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF in Q4 2024, followed by a partnership with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund to back Crusoe Energy and launch the Middle East’s first flare-gas mining operation. In October 2025, Mubadala co-led Crusoe’s Series E with a $1.375 billion check, pushing the company’s valuation above $10 billion—at which point Crusoe said it would divest its Bitcoin mining division and focus fully on AI infrastructure. Related Reading: Bitcoin Death Cross That Last Preceded A 66% Drop Is Back Kim’s thesis is that miners have already done the hard, unglamorous work AI now needs: securing power, mastering high-density thermal management, and building operational muscle around flexible load. He also leaned on an Elon Musk quote from a November 2025 podcast: “Energy is the true currency. This is why I say Bitcoin is based on energy. You can’t just pass a law and suddenly have a lot of energy.” A recurring theme in Kim’s post is that electricity’s constraints (locality, immediacy, and transmission losses) make flexibility economically valuable. He cited early examples like Sichuan hydropower curtailment exceeding 20 billion kWh by 2020, and argued that miners became a buyer of last resort for energy that couldn’t be stored or sold. Globally, he claimed curtailed renewable energy exceeds 200TWh annually, representing more than $20 billion in economic losses, positioning Bitcoin mining as an instant monetization path for surplus generation. In Texas, Kim pointed to ERCOT’s classification of mining as a controllable load resource, citing Riot Blockchain cutting power usage by 98–99% during the 2022 winter storm and receiving $31.7 million in power credits during an August 2023 heatwave, more than it would have earned mining that month. The framing is less “miners versus data centers” and more “premium uptime workloads versus interruptible demand that stabilizes the grid.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Won’t Break Out Until The Fed Steps Into Yen/JGB Chaos: Arthur Hayes Kim also argued the environmental critique is changing on the margin as the industry’s energy mix shifts. He claimed more than half of mining now comes from sustainable sources, exceeding 52%, while coal dependence fell from 36% to under 9%. On methane, he described flare-gas mining as an emissions arbitrage: methane has “80 times” the greenhouse effect of CO2, flaring combusts 93% with 7% escaping, while using gas for mining combusts over 99%, cutting CO2-equivalent emissions by over 60% versus flaring. The forward implication of Ju’s framing is that if AI accelerates the premium on reliable power and buildout speed, Bitcoin’s value proposition may increasingly be argued in the language of energy markets: measuring, monetizing, and transporting scarcity. Kim’s closing challenge was explicit: shift the question from consumption totals to system outcomes, suggesting the next phase of the debate will center on where miners sit in the stack of AI-era infrastructure, not whether they exist: “AI operates where continuous uptime is essential; Bitcoin operates where flexibility has value. Governments can print money, but they cannot print energy. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work is the mechanism that brings this physical reality into the digital economy. It’s a technology that takes energy from one place and transports it anywhere.” At press time, Bitcoin traded at $86,779. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin price started a major decline below $86,500. BTC is down nearly 10% and might soon test the $80,000 support zone. Bitcoin failed to remain above $86,500 and started another decline. The price is trading above $85,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $83,200 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair might dip further if it trades below the $81,000 and $80,000 levels. Bitcoin Price Dips Again Bitcoin price failed to continue higher above the $88,000 zone. BTC started a major decline below the $87,200 and $86,500 levels. The bears were able to push the price below $85,000. It spared major bearish moves, pushing the price below $82,000. A low was formed at $81,000 and the price is still signaling more downsides. There is also a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $83,200 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. Bitcoin is now trading below $83,200 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. If the price remains stable above $80,000, it could attempt a fresh increase. Immediate resistance is near the $82,000 level. The first key resistance is near the $83,200 level or the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $90,438 swing high to the $81,000 low. A close above the $83,200 resistance might send the price further higher. In the stated case, the price could rise and test the $85,000 resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $85,700 level or the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $90,438 swing high to the $81,000 low. The next barrier for the bulls could be $87,000 and $87,500. More Losses In BTC? If Bitcoin fails to rise above the $83,200 resistance zone, it could start another decline. Immediate support is near the $81,000 level. The first major support is near the $80,500 level. The next support is now near the $80,000 zone. Any more losses might send the price toward the $77,000 support in the near term. The main support sits at $75,000, below which BTC might struggle to recover in the near term. Technical indicators: Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $81,000, followed by $80,000. Major Resistance Levels – $82,000 and $83,200.
Solana is rapidly positioning itself as a core hub for tokenized finance following WisdomTree’s deployment of fund infrastructure on the blockchain. The move reflects growing confidence among traditional asset managers in SOL’s ability to support large-scale, regulated financial products with the speed and cost efficiency required by modern capital markets. How Traditional Asset Managers Expand On-Chain Operations WisdomTree’s deployment of $159 billion in fund infrastructure on Solana marks a turning point for how regulated money moves. A research and news site, Genfinity, revealed on X that regulated money market funds are now settling natively on SOL, which means institutional cash flow assets no longer require traditional banking rails. One of the clearest signals is the Government money market digital fund, which already holds around $730 million in on-chain assets. Direct minting eliminates synthetic exposure with real Treasury-backed settlement. This allows retail investors to access institutional-grade financial products with blockchain speed and low costs. The multi-chain deployment is proof that financial institutions prioritize performance over narrative. Currently, SOL is processing the same regulated funds that previously required correspondent banks and a 3-day settlement. The gap between on-chain infrastructure and traditional finance products has just collapsed. An industry-leading commentary on the global capital markets, The Kobeissi Letter, reported that Coinbase has announced it is integrating with Jupiter Exchange directly into its on-chain trading stack. With this move, millions of Solana-based tokens can now be traded on Coinbase for the first time, all through Jupiter on-chain liquidity. Instead of relying on the slow manual process of listing assets on a centralized order book, Coinbase is currently using on-chain infrastructure to provide instant access to Solana-native markets. Under the new integration, users can deploy existing Coinbase balances and payment methods to trade tokens from a self-custodial wallet. “Even the centralized exchanges are moving on-chain,” The Kobeissi Letter noted. Why Liquidity Grabs Often Precede Reversals According to Larskooistra, the local context on Solana is fairly conducive to building a structure. The Price has already completed a Model 2 accumulation schematic, and grabbed all buy-side liquidity while taking the range high and broke market structure back to bearish, creating a supply in the process. Related Reading: Solana Structure Suggests One Final Test Before Bulls Can Step In From a higher-timeframe perspective, this gives a bearish context on BTC whenever accumulation models complete themselves and break the market structure, and then turn back to bearish afterwards, which shows a full reversal towards the lows. Larskooistra expects the equal lows acting as the next liquidity target to be taken out, and is looking for distribution schematics on the current move up. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Bulls kept a collapse from happening this week when Bitcoin found buying interest above the mid-$80,000s. Prices bounced off a key range, and that breathing room has traders watching the market’s plumbing — not just the headline price. Reports note that the path to a lasting recovery is likely to go through improved liquidity, with market watchers pointing to on-chain measures as the real signal to watch. Related Reading: Record Pain: Bitcoin Investors Suffer $4.5B Loss, Most In 3 Years At Center Stage: Market Structure And Liquidity Glassnode and other analysts have flagged a tight snapshot of supply stress: roughly 22% of circulating Bitcoin is sitting below its purchase price, which raises the chance that outsized selling could kick in if support fails. That’s a nontrivial share of coins that could change hands under pressure. Any meaningful transition back toward a strong market rally should be reflected in liquidity-sensitive indicators such as the Realized Profit/Loss Ratio (90D-SMA). A sustained rise above ~5 has historically signalled a renewal of liquidity inflows into the market.… https://t.co/ct0FhOLFXh pic.twitter.com/JqbfdlRk2b — glassnode (@glassnode) January 28, 2026 The specific metric now being watched is the realized profit/loss ratio on a 90-day basis. Historical episodes of steady recoveries have tended to line up with this ratio moving above about 5, which many analysts treat as a sign that real money is rotating back into the market. A repeat of that pattern would make rallies more durable; until then, rallies look vulnerable to being trimmed. According to a post shared on X, Glassnode said focus has moved toward liquidity after Bitcoin managed to defend the $80,700 to $83,400 support zone. Reports note that any move toward a lasting rally would need to show up in liquidity-based signals, with close attention on the 90-day moving average of the realized profit and loss ratio. Bitcoin Price Action And Geopolitics Midweek trading left Bitcoin in a cautious band near the high-$80,000s. Geopolitical headlines have been shaking risk appetite, nudging some traders into safer assets and prompting short bursts of volatility. That has kept follow-through buying muted even when prices test higher levels, and it helps explain why some short-term bets are focused on a squeeze toward the low-$90,000s before profit-taking reappears. Flows Into Exchanges Still Low Exchange inflows, a rough barometer of selling pressure, remain subdued. Data shared by market trackers shows monthly BTC inflows to Binance at levels far below the long-term average — only a fraction of what was typical in past years — suggesting many holders are choosing to keep coins off exchanges rather than move them for sale. That reduces immediate downside risk, but it does not prove that buyers will step in en masse. Related Reading: Gold, Silver Steal The Spotlight As Crypto Hype Fades On Social Media: Santiment Futures And The Risk Of A Liquidity Grab Futures markets and options positioning hint at a possible short-term liquidity grab near the low-$90,000s, where stops and leverage cluster and can be pulled into a quick move. Such moves are often violent and brief. They can create the impression of a breakout, only for spot markets to settle back once the extra liquidity is consumed. Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
Bitcoin (BTC) continued to slide on Thursday, extending the downward trend seen throughout the week and briefly falling below the closely watched $85,000 level, despite progress on long-awaited US crypto legislation failing to lift market sentiment. Crypto Prices Fall Despite Regulatory Progress The decline came on the same day the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its portion of the proposed crypto market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act. While the committee’s action was widely viewed as a positive development for the digital asset industry, it did little to support prices in the short term. Related Reading: White House To Host Crypto And Banking Leaders In Push To Break Regulatory Deadlock Instead of triggering a rally, the news coincided with a sharp market sell‑off. Bitcoin dropped by roughly $2,700 in a short period, setting off a wave of liquidations that erased an estimated $356 million in long positions. Data from Coinglass further shows that total liquidations across the crypto market reached about $803 million over the past 24 hours, including roughly $693 million in long liquidations and $109 million in short liquidations. Bitcoin Hovers Near Breakdown Levels As earlier reported by Bitcoinist, the CLARITY Act cleared an important procedural hurdle earlier on Thursday when the Senate Agriculture Committee approved its section of the bill during a scheduled markup. The legislation aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States. With the Agriculture Committee’s approval secured, lawmakers must merge the provisions that expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) role with parallel sections overseen by the Senate Banking Committee, which address the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction. At the same time, legislators will need to determine whether bipartisan backing can still be achieved for a measure that could significantly reshape crypto regulation in the US. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply In Loss Begins To Rise, Raising Early Bear Market Concerns From a technical perspective, market analyst Rekt Capital said that in the near term, Bitcoin needs to prevent the former range low around $86,000 from turning into resistance on lower time frames. He added that a weekly close above that level would be necessary to avoid a deeper breakdown. According to his analysis, a decisive break below the roughly $86,000 area could open the door to another test of the macro triangle bottom near $82,500. A further drop below that level, he cautioned, would signal an acceleration of bearish momentum. As of now, the market’s leading cryptocurrency has only briefly recovered to $85,135. However, it is still far from reaching the critical level outlined by the analyst. Therefore, Friday’s price action will be crucial in determining Bitcoin’s next move. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com