Bitcoin has entered into “extreme fear” territory after a 7% decline to $72,877 on Tuesday, its lowest since November 6, 2024, before regaining some ground to trade at $76,300. It is down 13% this year and 39% from its October 6 peak above $126,000.
This move marks four consecutive monthly declines, the longest losing streak since the 2018 crypto winter.
The renewed macro uncertainty led to the decline. The global risk-off sentiment returned from President Donald Trump's new tariff concerns, making investors reduce their investments in risk assets.
On January 30 the market saw over $2.2 billion in liquidations of leveraged crypto positions within 24 hours, with most forced exits coming from long positions.
The total crypto market value has slumped by $467.6 billion since January 29, according to CoinGecko.
Traditional safe havens also saw heavy selling as investors rushed for dollar liquidity. Gold suffered its largest single-day percentage drop in decades, while silver recorded its steepest fall since 1980.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has plunged to 14, firmly in “extreme fear.”
On Polymarket, the odds of Bitcoin (BTC) falling below $65,000 in 2026 climbed to 78% as of today, with over $1 million in volume.
Futures open interest has dropped sharply, signaling reduced speculative exposure, while perpetual funding rates have turned neutral to slightly negative, an indication that traders are no longer willing to pay a premium to stay long.
Bitcoin price closed below $78,490 on Sunday. It corrected nearly 4%, hitting a low of $72,945 on Tuesday. As of writing on Wednesday, BTC trades at $76,288 with 2.13% decline in the last 24 hours.
If BTC continues its downward trend and closes below the support at $73,072, it could extend the decline toward the key psychological level of $70,000.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reads 28.09, an oversold condition, indicating strong bearish momentum.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) also shows a bearish crossover with rising red histogram bars below the neutral level, further supporting the negative outlook.
Conversely, if BTC recovers, it could extend the advance toward the $78,490 level.
Also Read: BTC Plunge Sparks Warning From Michael Burry on Market Fallout
The sell-off reignited debate around Bitcoin’s role as "digital gold." High-profile skeptics such as Michael Burry argue that Bitcoin continues to trade like a high-beta risk asset instead of a reliable hedge as its correlations with equities and ETF-driven flows have increased.
For now, the data suggest a market caught in technical oversold conditions.
Bitcoin will either stabilize or slide further depending on its ability to defend key support levels and the extent to which macroeconomic pressures ease to restore risk-taking behavior.