Bitcoin is back below $68,000, making the earlier rebuttal above $70,000 look weaker.
The major cryptocurrency briefly tried to regain the level on Monday, only to be pushed down towards $67,000 as sellers emerged around the breakout zone. It traded near $68,000 early Wednesday, roughly flat on the day, but now below what had been near-term support.
That shift means something. The $68,000-$70,000 range had acted as a floor through the first half of February. Losing it increases the risk of rallies being sold rather than bought, and a clean break below $67,000 would put $65,000 and possibly $60,000 back into focus.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB have all fallen by as much as 3% over seven days, while smaller tokens such as Zcash’s ZEC and Cosmos’ ATOM have posted gains of as much as 20% in the past week. Historically, when the majors lag, the rest of the market struggles to maintain upward momentum.
“The fallout of the major coins is an ominous sign for smaller ones, as it may soon drag them down with it at an accelerated pace,” Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, said in an email.
On-chain analysts at CryptoQuant say the market has entered a stress phase, but has yet to see the kind of big loss realization that typically marks a final cycle bottom – suggesting the relaxation may not be over.
Adding to the turmoil, quantum computers have resurfaced in market conversations, with some investors questioning long-term cryptographic risks while developers push back on timelines that place meaningful threats decades away.
Meanwhile, Blockstream CEO Adam Back criticized a proposed BIP-110 update aimed at reducing spam on the network, arguing that it could create new reputational risks by changing the rules around what transactions should be allowed, as CoinDesk noted.
Institutional flows are also changing. Harvard’s endowment cut more than 20% of its bitcoin ETF exposure in the fourth quarter, though it remains the fund’s largest public crypto position.
Outside of crypto, Asian stocks advanced in thin Lunar New Year trade. The MSCI Asia Pacific index rose 0.6%, led by gains in Japan, while US futures rose after recent AI-related turbulence cooled.
For bitcoin, however, the technical battle is still front and center. Get $70,000 back and momentum resets. Fail again and the market begins to price in a deeper retracement.
