As of February 10,2026, bitcoin is experiencing a significant rapid and severe market downturn with price dropping from highs $126,000 in October 2025 to lows around $60,00-$68,000 representing a decline of nearly 50% in four mouths the market is in full capitulation mode as of early February with over $1 billion in liquidations in a 24-hour period.
Berry Bannister, chief strategist wrote in his research note on Wednesday that bitcoin could ultimately bottom out around $38,000 down about 70% he said he reached that conclusion based on trends and price moves during past bitcoin super-bears or periods.
Causes of the crash mostly due to high-leverage bets, particularly from Hong Kong hedge funds utilizing the yen carry trade, went wrong as prices fell, leading to forced liquidations and also a significant amount of borrowed money (“leverage”) was pulled from the market, causing bitcoin futures open interest to plummet from over $90 billion in October 2025 to around $49 billion February 2026. This rapid unwinding created a cascade of forced selling, with approximately $2 to $2.5 billion in bitcoin futures liquidated in the weeks of the crash and options dealers were heavily short gamma between $60,000 and 75,000 forcing them to sell bitcoin in spot and futures markdowns to hedge their positions as the price dropped, intensifying the downward spiral and also bitcoin miners already under pressure from the winter storms raising energy costs were forced to sell their holdings to raise cash and with the intense focus on artificial intelligence(ai) investments saw a pullback which also impacted crypto mining companies that had pivoted to ai and high-performance computing widespread fear in financial markets led investors to sell off risky assets including bitcoin and move to safer havens like gold which records highs after a surge in 2025, institutional investors began to pull back, with more than $5 billon exiting bitcoin ETFS over the three months leading up to the crash
For what might happen in the next few months analysts split between a recovery to a declined from $100,000-$200,000+ from the start of the year-end or further declines toward $40,000. the long-term outlook focuses on institutional adoption, integration into banking, and a “tokenization super cycle.
Famous people that were affected by bitcoin crashing Micheal burry: known for predicting 2008 housing crash, Burry has warned that this bitcoin plunge could trigger a death spiral for companies with high exposures such as MicroStrategy and Changping Zhao (Binance) the founder of Binance saw his net worth dropped by roughly $29 billion due to the plummeting value of bitcoin and Binance’s BNB tokens.
