Bitcoin slid sharply on Saturday, falling below $80,000 for the first time since April 2025, as sustained selling pressure and a lack of new capital weighed on crypto markets.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 10% to $75,709.88 during New York afternoon trading on Saturday, extending a rally that has now wiped more than 30% off its peak value. Ether fell as much as 17%, while Solana briefly dipped above 17%, showing broad weakness across major tokens.
The selloff erased about $111 billion from the total crypto market capitalization in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. About $1.6 billion in leveraged long and short positions were liquidated during the same period, largely concentrated in bitcoin and ether, per data from the market tracker Coinglass.
The latest leg down comes amid thinning liquidity and muted buying interest — a combination analysts say reflects a market struggling to attract new capital. Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain research firm CryptoQuant, said bitcoin’s realized capitalization has largely flatlined, indicating that new money has stopped flowing into the asset.
“When the market cap goes down without the realized cap growing, it’s not a bull market,” Ju said in a post on X.
According to Ju, early bitcoin holders have been sitting on significant unrealized gains after months of aggressive buying by spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy.
While those inflows helped anchor prices near $100,000 for most of last year, profit-taking by long-term owners has continued since early 2024 — and is now clashing with a sharp slowdown in demand.
Bitcoin falls as selling pressure continues with no new capital coming in.
Realized Cap is flat, meaning there is no fresh capital. When the market value falls in that environment, it is not a bull market.
Early holders are sitting on big unrealized gains thanks to ETFs and MSTR… pic.twitter.com/J0yTtCTQjr
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) 1 February 2026
MicroStrategy had been a key driver of the rally, Ju said, adding that a deep cycle-style crash of 70% is unlikely unless the firm starts selling off its bitcoin holdings. Even so, selling pressure remains high, leaving the market without a clear bottom in the short term.
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, CoinDesk reported.
The pullback reflects price levels seen in the wake of the so-called “Liberation Day” fallout and adds to weeks of macro frustration for bitcoin. The asset has failed to rally despite developments that would have previously supported prices, including a weaker US dollar through most of January and gold’s rise to record highs.
Bitcoin also saw little response as gold and silver reversed sharply on Friday, dampening expectations that crypto could benefit as a spillover hedge. At the same time, delays surrounding new US market structure rules for the crypto sector have further eroded investor confidence.
Ju expects that the current downturn will not resolve itself through a quick recovery, but via a longer period of sideways trading.
“This bear market is more likely to form a comprehensive consolidation,” he said.
