Bitcoin’s price fell sharply over the weekend, slipping below $78,000 – its lowest level since April – as profit-taking was met with dwindling liquidity and a scarcity of new buyers.
Traders told CoinDesk that a rally once supported by corporate demand, particularly Strategy (MSTR) bitcoin purchases, has run out of steam, leaving markets vulnerable to forced sales and derivatives liquidations.
For some market analysts, Saturday’s decline is part of a broader downward trend that has been taking shape for months. Eric Crown, a former options trader at NYSE Arca, has been saying since late October that bitcoin is in a sideways down phase and that optimism around a return to new highs – or a rotation from metals to crypto – is misplaced “hope” for bulls.
“This has been my point of view ever since. [the] at the end of October, BTC is in a sideways and bearish phase… I don’t think 80K is a macro low for Bitcoin,” Crown, who now posts crypto market updates with over 200,000 subscribers, told CoinDesk, emphasizing that the recent price action could be part of a broader corrective regime.
And the evolution of the options market reinforces this bearish feeling. Options traders are now increasingly betting that prices will fall below $75,000 and abandoning their bullish bets of reaching $100,000. So much so that the dollar value of the number of active Bitcoin put option contracts at the $75,000 level listed on the Deribit platform now stands at $1.159 billion, almost matching the $1.168 billion notional open interest locked in the $100,000 call option.
Read more: Here’s why Bitcoin traders are now betting billions on a fall below $75,000 and bailing out on a price rise.
Bearish signals
Crown highlights several technical indicators that have historically pointed to deeper corrections.
The monthly MACD – a technical trading indicator – fell in November, a rare signal that preceded prolonged downturns in previous cycles.
Additionally, the weekly 21 to 55 EMA (another technical indicator) recently moved into bearish territory. When this happens, it is usually followed by losses over several months. And the 2025 annual chart closed in a “shooting star,” a candlestick pattern that often signals a mid-term reversal.
Bitcoin at $50,000?
Worse still for the bulls, bitcoin has strayed from traditional markets since October, falling while stocks and other risk assets have held up — a pattern Crown sees as typical of late-cycle risk-averse behavior.
“People usually sell the most speculative assets first,” he said.
Beyond the technicals, Crown points to the speculative wipeout of the October crash, which wiped out many leveraged altcoin positions and left traders reluctant to re-enter at high levels.
Read More: Crypto’s $19 Billion ’10/10′ Nightmare: Why Everyone Is Blaming Binance for the Bitcoin Crash That Won’t End
While not as extreme as some cyclical bears, Crown suggests that bitcoin could fall to even lower levels – potentially into the $50,000-$60,000 zone – before stabilizing.
In fact, he says this range represents an area he personally plans to add to his long-term positions, describing the current market as a potential phase of value accumulation rather than the end of the broader crypto cycle.
