Bitcoin price lost a key support level after a failed breakout attempt past $97,000.
Risk sentiment faded as key legislation stalled in the US and short-term traders started booking profits.
Total crypto market cap slipped below the $3.3 trillion mark for the second time this month, having dropped over 2%.
The crypto fear and greed index dropped 4 points in the past 24 hours to enter the lower bounds of neutral territory at 50.
Altcoins, likewise, followed Bitcoin’s lead, with most retracing gains that had built up earlier in the week.
A few outliers managed to post modest profits, but broader sentiment remained cautious.
Why is Bitcoin price down today?
After failing to break past the two-month high near $97,000, Bitcoin slipped back below the $95,000 support zone as sentiment weakened around stalled regulatory progress in the United States.
Attention turned to the Market Structure Bill, widely referred to as the CLARITY Act, after its expected Senate markup was delayed following Coinbase’s decision to withdraw support.
The setback quickly fed into market pricing. Prediction odds for the bill passing this year fell from 63% to 49%, adding another layer of uncertainty for investors who had been positioning for clearer regulatory direction.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the bill risked undermining the tokenisation sector, interfering with stablecoin reward structures, encroaching on user privacy within DeFi, and weakening the CFTC’s role as a regulator.
At the same time, profit-taking accelerated after Bitcoin’s strong run earlier in the week.
Several of the day’s weakest performers were among the top gainers just days ago, pointing to short-term traders locking in returns rather than fresh selling driven by new bearish catalysts.
From a technical perspective, momentum cooled as Bitcoin once again failed to sustain upside traction toward the $100,000 level.
Further, losing the $95,000 area later in the day shifted short-term bias lower and reduced trader confidence, particularly among leveraged participants who had positioned for continuation higher.
Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, total crypto liquidations climbed to $256.79 million, with long positions accounting for roughly $203.75 million of that total.
Bitcoin alone made up about $75.88 million in liquidations, showing how heavily long exposure was concentrated near recent highs.
The bulk of forced exits occurred as prices slipped through key intraday levels, amplifying downside moves as stops were triggered.
Will Bitcoin price go up?
Analysts broadly view the pullback as a corrective phase rather than a trend reversal.
Bitcoin’s move to a two-month high earlier this week left the market extended in the short term.
While on-chain data continues to show accumulation by larger holders, smaller retail participants appear to be taking profits, contributing to short-term softness as the market waits for a clearer macro or regulatory catalyst.
For now, Bitcoin bulls need to defend the $95,000 psychological area, which is acting as a pivotal pivot point for short term price action.
If the asset fails to reclaim this level quickly, the focus shifts toward deeper liquidity pools.
Market analysts are keeping a close watch on the $91,000 to $92,000 range, which served as a reliable base during the early January climbs.
A break below that could open the door for a “liquidity hunt” toward the $88,000 zone, where institutional buyers have historically stepped in to absorb selling pressure.
The immediate trajectory depends largely on whether the market can digest the recent legislative friction.
While the delay of the CLARITY Act created a temporary vacuum of confidence, the underlying demand remains strong.
This is evident across Spot ETF inflows, which have shown resilience even during this pullback, attracting over $1.7 billion in the past few days alone.
This means that bigger players are treating these dips as accumulation opportunities rather than a reason to exit.
To regain a truly bullish posture, Bitcoin needs to clear the $98,000 resistance. This level represents the average entry price for many short-term holders.
Reclaiming it would turn those underwater positions back into profit, reducing the urge to sell on every bounce.
Until then, investors should expect a period of range-bound trading between $90,000 and $96,000 as the market awaits fresh macro data.
Bitcoin upside remains in play
Some analysts, however, are completely downplaying the downside risks
On X, the pseudonymous market analyst CryptoBoss characterised the current dip as a textbook retest of a key support area.
$BTC retesting support and then UP
Fellow market watcher Crypto-ROD, also presented a similar idea to their more than 58,000 followers on X.
$BTC Hear me out
Just a bullish retest here and we send everything hard ☕️
Well-followed trader Ash Crypto also presented a bullish take by highlighting a compelling historical fractal.
In a recent analysis, the analyst drew direct parallels between the current market structure and the early stages of the 2019 bull run.
His analysis pointed out that both cycles followed a “worst Q4” performance, leading to a capitulation event where the price dipped below the lower weekly Bollinger Band.
Historically, this technical signal marks an extreme oversold condition and a local bottom, which has consistently been followed by a strong recovery in January.
Based on this Q1 2025 vs. Q1 2019 fractal, Ash Crypto suggests that the recent pullback is simply a consolidation phase within a much larger uptrend, while sharing the below chart.
“It seems like Bitcoin is going much higher from here, the analyst noted.
At the time of publication, the Bitcoin price was hovering just below $95,000, down a little over 1.5% on the day.
Altcoin gainers for the day
The market cap of all altcoins combined dropped by 1.1% over the past 24 hours to $1.21 trillion at the time of writing.
Ethereum (ETH) dropped nearly 2% over the day and settled at $3,260, while other large-cap cryptocurrencies such as XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) posted losses between 1-4%.
The bearish sentiment extended to the majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, with some of the top laggards being Polygon (POL), Ethena (ENA), and Aptos (APT).
A resurgence in the privacy coin narrative provided a strong tailwind for the day’s few winners, as investors sought refuge in anonymity-focused assets amid the regulatory friction in Washington.
Dash led the pack as the only token to secure double-digit gains, surging 12.6%.
This move was ignited by the broader rotation into privacy-centric cryptocurrencies and further amplified by a massive spike in futures open interest, signalling aggressive demand from derivatives traders.
Decred followed a similar path, closing the day with a 6.7% gain. While it benefited significantly from the renewed interest in the privacy sector, the rally was bolstered by internal governance wins.
The community’s overwhelming approval of a proposal to cap treasury spending provided a secondary boost, as investors cheered the move toward stricter fiscal discipline.
For Chiliz (CHZ), its 7% rise came shortly after the project’s CEO teased a major upcoming announcement and the rollout of a comprehensive SportFi strategy specifically timed to capitalise on the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Source: CoinMarketCap
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