Bitcoin (BTC) Plummets Below US$70,000 as Institutions Rush Into the Market

Jakarta, Pintu News Bitcoin dropping below US$70,000 is viewed very differently by two groups of market participants. On the one hand, long holders are skeptical as the current correction wipes out most of their paper gains.

Institutional investors, on the other hand, see this downturn as a new opportunity to enter at price levels that they thought were “forever gone”. According to Bitwise CEO, Hunter Horsley, this shift in perspective explains why institutional inflows have remained strong despite the market being in a bear phase.

Old Holders Restless, Institutions See New Opportunities

Hunter Horsley thinks that many long-term holders are now in a phase of uncertainty after the price of Bitcoin (BTC) corrected more than 22% in the last 30 days and fell to around US$69,000. This correction comes just a few months after the mainstream narrative projected that Bitcoin would not return below US$100,000, as Standard Chartered analysts once said.

For long-time investors, the gap between euphoric expectations and price reality triggered new doubts about the timing of market cycles. But for institutions that previously waited on the sidelines, the current price level is seen as an unexpected “discount”.

Horsley mentions that many asset managers are now seeing prices that they once thought would never appear again. They are taking advantage of this volatility to start building or adding to positions, rather than simply speculating short-term.

These dynamics have caused the market structure to change: selling pressure from some long-holders has been offset by more systematic institutional buying interest. In other words, the flow of Bitcoin ownership is slowly shifting from speculative retail hands to large, longer-horizon investors.

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Bitcoin is dragged down by global risk-off along with gold and silver

According to Horsley, Bitcoin’s current decline is not happening in a vacuum, but is being “dragged down” by the weakness of other macro assets as investors sell off almost all liquid assets. He said Bitcoin is currently trading like any other liquid asset, not as an exception, amid the global risk-off phase. This is reflected in the sharp correction in precious metals: gold is down more than 11% from a record US$5,609, while silver has plunged nearly 36% from its ATH of around US$121.

The pattern indicates that it was a liquidity shock and portfolio repositioning, not a specific rejection of Bitcoin or crypto. Institutional and macro investors are offloading the most easily liquid assets to reduce risk and meet margin needs.

In this context, Bitcoin is in the same basket as gold, silver, and major stocks that are all correcting. The strong correlation with macro assets makes BTC price sensitive to global sentiment rather than crypto industry-specific news.

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Institutional Inflows and Surge in Retail Interest

Despite the price correction, Horsley emphasized that institutional demand for Bitcoin remains solid. Bitwise, which manages over US$15 billion in institutional funds, recorded inflows of over US$100 million in a single day when Bitcoin was still trading at around US$77,000.

On the other hand, spot ETF products such as BlackRock’s recorded inflows of around US$231.6 million after two days of heavy outflows, signaling that buying interest has not disappeared. These figures show the market still has depth and liquidity, with sellers and buyers actively transacting on both sides.

Retail interest is also increasing, reflected in Google Trends data that shows searches for the word “Bitcoin” reached a score of 100 in the first week of February, the highest level in 12 months, just as the price fell to US$60,000.

This spike in searches usually signals a combination of fear and curiosity: some investors panic, others start to see opportunities for entry. Horsley thinks that as long as institutional inflows and retail interest remain high, the current bear phase is more like a major repositioning than the end of the Bitcoin narrative.

Conclusion

Bitcoin’s (BTC) drop below US$70,000 sparked panic among long-holders, but opened a new window of opportunity for institutional investors who had been waiting for lower prices. This correction coincided with gold and silver weakness, confirming that this is a macro risk-off phase, not a specific crypto rejection.

Despite the volatility, data on inflows into institutional products and a surge in retail interest suggests that Bitcoin is far from being abandoned. For market participants, the key question is no longer whether BTC is still in demand, but rather who will hold the lion’s share when the accumulation phase at current price levels ends.

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*Disclaimer

This content aims to enrich readers’ information. Pintu collects this information from various relevant sources and is not influenced by outside parties. Note that an asset’s past performance does not determine its projected future performance. Crypto trading activities are subject to high risk and volatility, always do your own research and use cold hard cash before investing. All activities of buying and selling Bitcoin and other crypto asset investments are the responsibility of the reader.

Reference

• Cointelegraph. Bitcoin under $70K gives institutions a ‘new crack of the apple’: Bitwise CEO. Accessed February 9, 2026.
• Featured Image: Investing News Network