'Bears in control': Bitcoin erases gains since 2021 all-time high as price drops back toward $69K

Bitcoin BTC has erased all gains since its $69,000 all-time high set in late 2021, sliding below the $70,000 threshold as selling pressure intensified across spot and derivatives markets.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as low as $69,040 on some exchanges on Thursday, its weakest level since October 2024, according to The Block’s price page.

At press time, bitcoin was down over 8% on the day, roughly 30% over the past year, and about 45% below its October high.

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Bears extend selloff

The break below $70,000 comes as market structure has deteriorated sharply, with onchain indicators pointing to forced selling, thin spot demand, and fading institutional support.

Analysts at Glassnode said the market has entered a decisively defensive phase, with realized losses accelerating as holders exit positions at a loss.

“Spot BTC volumes remain structurally weak, reflecting a demand vacuum where sell-side pressure isn’t being met by sustained absorption,” Glassnode analysts Chris Beamish and Antoine Colpaert wrote in a note.

Bitcoin’s drop has pushed the price below its “True Market Mean” — a key onchain cost basis metric tracking the average acquisition price of actively circulating supply. Glassnode said the loss of this level confirms a broader breakdown that has been building since late 2025, with the market increasingly resembling the early stages of prior bear-market transitions.

However, onchain data also shows early accumulation forming between $70,000 and $80,000, with a dense cost-basis cluster between roughly $66,900 and $70,600 that could act as a near-term shock absorber. Still, analysts warned that elevated realized losses — now averaging more than $1.2 billion per day — suggest fear-driven selling remains active.

Longs decimated again

Derivatives markets have amplified the move. Bitcoin futures saw their largest long-liquidation spike of the drawdown as price slipped into the low $70,000s, flushing out leveraged positioning that had rebuilt into a weak spot backdrop.

More than $1 billion in crypto liquidations were reported over the past 24 hours, the majority from long positions, according to data from CoinGlass. Notably, exchanges release staggered deleveraging data, which suggests the wipeout is likely much larger than currently thought.

Options markets continue to price elevated downside risk, with short-dated implied volatility rising sharply and downside skew steepening as traders pay up for protection.

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Soft institutional appetite

Institutional demand has also softened. Net flows across spot bitcoin ETFs, corporate treasuries, and government-linked holdings have turned negative, removing a key source of support that underpinned earlier phases of the cycle.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs registered a second consecutive day of outflows on Monday, totaling $545 million, The Block’s data shows.

The pullback has left several high-profile bitcoin treasury strategies under pressure.

Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, holds more than 713,000 BTC at an average cost just above $76,000, leaving its position underwater as bitcoin traded below that level. ETF investors, whose aggregate cost basis is estimated to sit well above current prices, are also facing paper losses.

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Market analysts say the current phase is being driven less by narrative shifts and more by balance-sheet mechanics. Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, said bitcoin’s slide reflects broader deleveraging across risk assets as volatility ripples through equities, commodities, and crypto simultaneously.

Others see the move as part of a longer reset rather than a short-lived correction. Nic Puckrin, co-founder of Coin Bureau, said the market is transitioning “from distribution to reset,” warning that such phases historically take months rather than weeks to resolve.

Glassnode noted the key variable remains spot demand. Without a sustained return of fresh buyers, bitcoin is vulnerable to further downside and unstable rebounds.

“Any relief rallies are likely to be corrective rather than trend-reversing,” the firm said, adding that a durable recovery will require time, absorption and renewed conviction from spot participants.