Bitcoin’s Swift Drop Catches Traders Off Guard
Bitcoin’s slide into the low $90,000s has triggered one of the fastest sentiment resets of the year, with traders abruptly shifting from upside bets to pricing in a deeper structural decline. Retail and institutional participants were caught off guard as Polymarket odds swung sharply toward further downside, reflecting the multi-week selloff that erased most of Bitcoin’s 2025 gains.
QCP noted that even professional desks were unprepared for a weekly close below $100,000 or a breach of the 50-week moving average, calling it a cycle-level inflection. On-chain data from Glassnode highlights oversold momentum, heavy realized losses, and moderating ETF outflows, signaling late-stage capitulation pressures in areas where previous bottoms formed.
However, CryptoQuant warns that a true floor has yet to materialize, as realized losses remain limited and long-term holders continue selling into strength. Bitcoin remains in a delicate range between early exhaustion and incomplete capitulation, setting the stage for continued volatility.
Market Snapshot
- BTC: ~$92,500, down ~2% on the day, ~27% from last month’s record high
- ETH: Just above $3,000, down ~2% in 24 hours, ~15% weekly decline
- Gold: ~$4,069/oz, down 0.3%, pressured by a stronger dollar and fading Fed rate cut expectations
- Nikkei 225: Down 0.92% as Asia-Pacific markets follow Wall Street’s tech-led slide
Crypto Headlines
- DappRadar shuts down, citing “financially unsustainable” market (CoinDesk)
- Ethereum described by Vitalik Buterin as the “opposite of FTX” (Decrypt)
- Hacker behind Barack Obama and Jeff Bezos Twitter breaches to repay over $5M in stolen Bitcoin (The Block)
