The news: Bitcoin is on tempo for a fifth straight month-to-month drop if February closes crimson, its longest shedding streak since 2018, whereas spot ETF flows flip persistently detrimental, reinforcing a brand new actuality: post-ETF BTC is buying and selling like a rates-and-risk instrument. If it doesn't reverse in March and reclaim $80k, it can equal its worst interval ever.
Bitcoin has closed decrease in every of the previous 4 months, and February is detrimental mid-month, establishing a fifth straight month-to-month decline.
That consequence would mark Bitcoin’s longest month-to-month shedding streak in six years, a stretch now being framed much less as chart trivia and extra as a macro stress take a look at for the post-ETF market construction.
Information exhibits October 2025 by way of January 2026 every completed down, with November’s loss the deepest within the run.
February opened close to $78,626 earlier than buying and selling within the excessive $60,000s round mid-month.
As of press time. Bitcoin trades at roughly $68,800, about 44–45% under the October peak at $126,000, and 12.6% down for the month.
The all-time report for month-to-month drawdowns sits at 6 months from January 2017 to August 2018. Bitcoin would equal that report if March additionally ends negatively.
Charges expectations and ETF flows
The drawdown arrived alongside a repricing in charges expectations that has saved threat belongings delicate to every incremental change within the “increased for longer” path, in line with Ned Davis Analysis figures cited by Enterprise Insider.
Fed funds futures proceed to lean towards a maintain into March 2026, with odds closely weighted towards no change.
A stickier coverage path tends to boost the hurdle for duration-like trades, and Bitcoin’s latest correlation profile has left it buying and selling as a macro beta expression in lots of portfolios, significantly when fairness volatility rises.
That macro channel is now being bolstered by the ETF wrapper itself.
Current spot Bitcoin ETF buying and selling classes are skewing detrimental, with roughly $2 billion in web outflows during the last 3 weeks and a number of single-day totals within the a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands.
On this regime, draw back can persist and not using a crypto-specific catalyst if redemptions and risk-parity-style de-risking maintain pressuring the tape.
On-chain price foundation defines key ranges
Glassnode’s newest on-chain work frames the selloff as a tightening contest between overhead provide and cost-basis help.
The agency mentioned the True Market Imply close to $80,200 has acted as overhead resistance, whereas the Realized Value close to $55,800 has served as traditionally confirmable “re-engagement” territory throughout deeper resets.
Between these poles, Glassnode maps a dense cost-basis zone round $66,900–$70,600, a band that has functioned as a near-term reference for whether or not holders are defending combination entry factors or capitulating into lower-liquidity pockets.
These ranges present a easy ahead hall for the following one to 3 months as a result of they line up with what different market commentary is already watching.
I've prompt a number of instances that the seemingly market backside for this cycle sits round $49,000, and the earlier Bitcoin hits that stage, the extra seemingly it’s to step by step climb again into the 2028 halving.
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Barron’s described a $55,000–$60,000 space as a believable volatility zone, pointing to the convergence of the 200-day shifting common close to $58,000 and an estimated common buy worth round $56,000 as potential anchors if promoting accelerates.
Put in another way, from roughly $68,800, the market is debating a path again towards the $80,200 “imply” space versus a slide towards the $55,800 realized-price area.
Every transfer represents a high-teens proportion swing.
| Path (subsequent 4–12 weeks) | What would want to alter | Ranges in focus (sources) | Vary framing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stabilization and vary commerce | Outflows sluggish, macro doesn’t tighten additional, cost-basis consumers defend entries | $66,900–$70,600 help; ~$80,200 overhead (Glassnode) | ~$65,000–$82,000 (Glassnode) |
| Deeper deleveraging | Price-basis band fails, risk-off persists, compelled promoting expands | $60,000 retest, then ~$55,800 realized worth (Glassnode); $55,000–$60,000 zone (Barron’s) | ~$55,000–$60,000, with decrease stress tails mentioned under |
| Reclaim | Macro tone eases and inflows return, worth recaptures overhead provide | Reclaim ~$80,200 (Glassnode) | ~$80,000–$95,000+ (level-dependent) |
The draw back tails being circulated are additionally explicitly macro-linked.
Ned Davis Analysis, by way of Enterprise Insider, framed a “crypto winter” stress case utilizing prior bear-market averages (about 84% drawdowns over roughly 225 days), which might place Bitcoin close to $31,000 if historical past had been to rhyme on the excessive.
A separate Enterprise Insider report cited a Zacks strategist outlining a $40,000 path over three to 6 months, tying the situation to liquidity situations and the length of prior winter durations.
These aren’t consensus targets, however they operate as boundary markers for a way far macro-driven de-risking can journey when flows and positioning are one-sided.
For the rest of February, the calendar itself turns into the set off.
A crimson month-to-month shut would formalize a five-month run of declines and accomplish that at a time when ETF movement persistence, on-chain cost-basis protection, and fed-funds pricing all level to Bitcoin buying and selling as a rates-and-risk instrument fairly than a standalone idiosyncratic market.
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