Bitcoin Is Down 44% From Its Peak — Here’s What’s Driving the 2026 Crypto Selloff
Bitcoin hit an all-time high above $125,000 in October 2025. Today it is trading near $70,000, a 44% drop in under five months, and the sell-off has hit every corner of the crypto market.
Here’s what’s behind it and where things stand.
How we got here
The October 2025 rally was unlike anything crypto had seen. Bitcoin surged past $100,000 for the first time, peaked above $125,000, and pulled the entire market with it. Leverage was extreme. Retail piled in late.
Then came the macro shock.
Hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data through late 2025 and early 2026 pushed back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Geopolitical stress around Iran added to the risk-off mood. Bitcoin, which had traded like a risk-on asset on the way up, got treated like one on the way down.
What followed was an overleveraged market unwinding. Not a collapse in fundamentals, but a forced reset of positioning.
Where markets stand today
| Asset | Price | 24h change |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $69,732 | ▼ -0.83% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $2,017 | ▼ -1.67% |
| Solana (SOL) | $85.84 | ▼ -0.97% |
| XRP | $1.38 | ▼ -0.35% |
| BNB | $641.73 | ▼ -0.62% |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | $0.092 | ▲ +0.08% |
Ethereum has fallen below $2,100, a level that held as support for most of 2025. Solana is fighting to hold $80. A break below that level opens a path toward $75.
The liquidation cascade
When Bitcoin slipped below $70,000 this week, it triggered $329 million in forced liquidations across leveraged positions. As longs get wiped out, automatic selling pushes prices lower, which triggers more liquidations. This is the mechanical side of what looks like panic from the outside.
One outlier: Hyperliquid
Not everything is down. Hyperliquid (HYPE), a decentralised perpetuals exchange, surged 10% after oil-linked trading on its platform crossed $1 billion in 24-hour volume. When commodity markets move sharply, traders move to leveraged derivatives. Hyperliquid has been capturing that flow, and its token price reflects it.
What to watch
On-chain data shows significant whale accumulation around $68,000. If Bitcoin loses that level with conviction, the next meaningful support is around $58,000 to $60,000.
The bigger variable is inflation. Any sign that price pressures are cooling would shift the rate outlook and likely provide relief across crypto. Until then, macro is driving this market, not crypto-specific fundamentals.
The TEB take
Bitcoin is down 44% from its peak, but it remains well above where it started 2025. Institutional adoption, ETF inflows, and on-chain activity have not deteriorated materially. The correction is real, but it is macro-driven. Investors watching $68,000 as a floor are not wrong. They should just be prepared for the macro picture to stay uncomfortable longer than they expect.
