Bitcoin drops to $78,000 as MicroStrategy-fueled rally runs out of buyers, traders say

Bitcoin slid sharply on Saturday, dropping below $80,000 for the first time since April 2025 as persistent selling pressure and a lack of new capital weighed on crypto markets.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 10% to $75,709.88 during New York afternoon trading hours on Saturday, extending a drawdown that has now wiped more than 30% off its peak value. Ether declined as much as 17%, while Solana briefly plunged over 17%, showing broad weakness across major tokens.

The selloff erased roughly $111 billion from the total crypto market capitalization in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. About $1.6 billion in leveraged long and short positions were liquidated over the same period, largely concentrated in bitcoin and ether, per data from market tracker Coinglass.

The latest leg down comes amid thinning liquidity and muted buying interest — a combination analysts say reflects a market struggling to attract fresh capital. Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, said bitcoin’s realized capitalization has largely flatlined, indicating that new money has stopped flowing into the asset.

“When market cap falls without realized cap growing, that’s not a bull market,” Ju said in a post on X.

According to Ju, early bitcoin holders have been sitting on substantial unrealized gains following months of aggressive buying by spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy.

While those inflows helped anchor prices near $100,000 for much of last year, profit-taking by long-term holders has continued since early 2024 — and is now colliding with a sharp slowdown in demand.

MicroStrategy had been a major driver of the rally, Ju said, adding that a deep, cycle-style crash of 70% is unlikely unless the firm begins selling its bitcoin holdings. Still, selling pressure remains elevated, leaving the market without a clear near-term bottom.

Saturday’s drop below $76,037 per coin put Strategy’s bitcoin position slightly underwater, but has not created any immediate financial stress for the firm, as CoinDesk reported.

The retreat echoes price levels seen in the aftermath of the so-called “Liberation Day” fallout and adds to weeks of macro frustration for bitcoin. The asset has failed to rally despite developments that previously would have supported prices, including a weaker U.S. dollar through much of January and gold’s surge to record highs.

Bitcoin also saw little response as gold and silver reversed sharply on Friday, dampening expectations that crypto might benefit as a spillover hedge. At the same time, delays around new U.S. market-structure rules for the crypto sector have further eroded investor confidence.

Ju expects the current downturn to resolve not through a swift rebound, but via a prolonged period of sideways trading.

“This bear market is more likely to form a wide-ranging consolidation,” he said.