Bitcoin Plunges: Uh Oh… 😬

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So, Bitcoin decided to take a little… sabbatical. A downwards sabbatical. Apparently, it’s currently sulking somewhere around $93,000. Executives, those beings who spend all day staring at blinking numbers, are trying to figure out why. It’s a mystery, really. Like wondering why toast always lands butter-side down. 🧐

The market capitalization, in a display of synchronized dissatisfaction, has also decided to take a backwards stroll, tumbling from $3.7 trillion to a mere $3.2 trillion. It’s a dramatic drop, although thankfully, it hasn’t yet formed its own independent nation-state. Yet.

Ryan McMillin, a chap whose job title involves the word “Chief Investment Officer” (sounds important, doesn’t it?), suggests it’s not just one thing. No, that would be too simple. It’s a whole cocktail of unpleasantness, including people finally deciding to cash out after a rather enthusiastic party, and exchange-traded funds suddenly feeling less enthusiastic about buying things. It seems everyone’s having a case of the market jitters.

Multiple factors are tanking crypto prices – Who Knew?

It turns out those long-term holders, the ones who bought Bitcoin when it cost less than a decent cup of coffee, are having a bit of a clear-out. Apparently, even they need to pay for things like, you know, houses and interplanetary travel. There’s also a general sense of unease in the global markets, and because reasons, people are a bit less willing to gamble on things that might go zoom or splat. A fairly sensible reaction, all things considered.

“At the same time, spot Bitcoin ETFs and other vehicles that were huge buyers earlier in the cycle have swung to net outflows just as global markets have turned more risk-off and rate-cut hopes have been pushed out.”

“Put that together and you have old coins being distributed into a softer bid in a macro environment that’s a lot less forgiving than it was six months ago,” McMillin added. Which roughly translates to: “It’s all a bit of a mess, frankly.”

Matt Poblocki, a general manager of a crypto operation in Australia and New Zealand, points out that volatility is par for the course. Crypto, he explains, is still “maturing.” Which is a polite way of saying it’s still figuring things out. Like a teenager at a disco. 🕺

Holger Arians, CEO of a company that handles crypto payments and makes sure everything’s appropriately compliant (a vital job, honestly), thinks the market was getting a bit carried away with itself. Geopolitical tensions are still a thing, apparently, and everyone’s expecting tech valuations to magically stay high forever. It was, in his words, “almost inevitable” that things would cool off. Almost.

“And while crypto can sometimes move independently from traditional markets, this is one of those periods where people are simply waiting, watching, and trying to make sense of a turbulent year.”

As if on cue, Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, suggests it’s all part of a four-year cycle. Because everything has to be predictable, right? And Tom Lee, chairman of a company sounding like it’s from a science fiction novel, suspects that some market makers are in a bit of a pickle and are trying to avoid being… liquidated. Trading sounds more dangerous than it used to.

Sharp corrections are a regular part of any market – Aren’t They All?

However, most analysts are reassuring us that everything is still fundamentally sound. Poblocki believes people are still invested, and they’re choosing the sensible options, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Which is good. Mostly.

“What’s important is that we continue to see retail investors staying invested in the market and rotating toward blue-chip assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum rather than exiting altogether. That’s a strong sign of long-term confidence.”

He adds that institutional involvement remains high, and retail investors are acting more rationally than usual. And Arians notes that the underlying infrastructure is improving. Stablecoins are stable-coining, on-chain activity is happening on the chain, and developers are… developing. It’s a busy world, even in crypto.

“Even though prices feel soft, the infrastructure story underneath has never looked stronger. Stablecoin volumes, onchain activity, developer momentum, all moving quietly in the right direction. The market might feel slow, but the rails being laid now are setting up the next cycle,” Arians added.

Crypto market is still stronger than in previous cycles – apparently.

McMillin echoes the sentiment of a macro analyst named Jordi Visser, who suggests older Bitcoin holders are just selling to new ones who are happy to take over. In previous cycles this would have caused a full collapse, but the ETFs are absorbing the impact like a cosmic sponge.

“In prior cycles, with this level of long-term holder selling, we would have seen a 70-80% drawdown by now; instead, despite very heavy OG distribution, prices are down far less because ETFs and other institutional channels are deep enough to absorb a lot of that stock,” he said. 🤯

“That’s a sign of a maturing market, and a necessary movement of coins from the few to the many.”

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2025-11-17 07:19