Bitcoin fell sharply on Saturday, falling below $80,000 for the first time since April 2025, as persistent 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 hours on Saturday, extending a decline that has now erased more than 30% from its peak value. Ether fell as much as 17%, while Solana briefly plunged more than 17%, showing broad weakness in the major tokens.
The sell-off wiped roughly $111 billion off the total crypto market capitalization in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. During the same period, around $1.6 billion in leveraged long and short positions were liquidated, mainly concentrated in bitcoin and ether, according to data from market tracker Coinglass.
The latest decline comes amid dwindling liquidity and subdued buying interest, a combination that analysts say reflects a market struggling to attract fresh capital. Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, said bitcoin’s realized capitalization has largely stagnated, indicating that new money has stopped flowing into the asset.
“When market cap falls without real cap growing, it is not a bull market,” Ju said in a post on X.
According to Ju, early bitcoin holders have been racking up substantial unrealized gains following 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 much of last year, profit-taking by long-term holders has continued since early 2024, and is now colliding with a sharp slowdown in demand.
Bitcoin is falling as selling pressure persists and no fresh capital comes in.
The realized limit has stagnated, meaning there is no fresh capital. When market cap falls in that environment, it is not a bull market.
Early holders enjoy huge unrealized gains thanks to ETFs and MSTR… pic.twitter.com/J0yTtCTQjr
– Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) February 1, 2026
MicroStrategy had been a major driver of the rally, Ju said, adding that a deep, cycle-like 70% drop is unlikely unless the company starts selling its bitcoin holdings. Still, selling pressure remains high, leaving the market without a clear short-term bottom.
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 company, as CoinDesk reported.
The pullback echoes price levels seen in the aftermath of so-called “Liberation Day” and adds to weeks of macroeconomic frustration for bitcoin. The asset has failed to recover despite developments that would have previously supported prices, including a weaker US dollar for much of January and gold’s rise to record levels.
Bitcoin also saw little response as gold and silver reversed sharply on Friday, dampening expectations that cryptocurrencies could benefit as a spill hedge. At the same time, delays surrounding new US market structure rules for the crypto sector have further eroded investor confidence.
Ju expects the current crisis to be resolved not by a quick rally, but by a prolonged period of sideways trading.
“This bear market is more likely to form a wide-ranging consolidation,” he said.
