Bitcoin’s recent rebound was short-lived, as intense selling pressure pushed its price beneath the $73,000 threshold. This sharp decline wiped out more than $130 billion in market capitalization and led to liquidations totaling $283 million on leveraged positions.
Market Fluctuations and Price Drop
The cryptocurrency’s effort to bounce back after a challenging weekend quickly faltered when renewed selling activity drove Bitcoin below $73,000. Data from Bitstamp revealed an intraday low of approximately $72,863—a nearly 7% drop from the day’s opening price just under $79,000.
This volatility reflected broader trends seen in traditional financial markets at the start of 2026. For instance, at 2:30 pm EST during this downturn, the Nasdaq 100 had declined by 1.97%, while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.31% and 0.89%, respectively.
The rapid reversal resulted in a significant shrinkage of Bitcoin’s market value—from around $1.57 trillion down to roughly $1.47 trillion within a single day—while total crypto market capitalization contracted to about $2.61 trillion overall.
According to Bitstamp's one-hour chart for February 3rd, BTC/USD experienced heightened turbulence throughout trading sessions.
The sell-off was particularly harsh on traders using leverage: within one hour alone as Bitcoin hit its lowest point so far this year, long positions worth approximately $122 million were liquidated compared with only about $1.4 million lost on shorts across exchanges worldwide.
Total liquidations across all cryptocurrencies during that same period exceeded an astonishing figure of over $283 million—with longs bearing most losses due to sudden downward momentum.
Underlying Challenges
Although there was some optimism fueled by renewed inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs following days marked by withdrawals, fundamental obstacles continued hampering sustained upward movement for BTC prices.
A notable factor is what industry participants describe as “miner capitulation.” The reduction in block rewards caused by last year's halving event combined with falling prices forced even highly efficient mining operations into unprofitable territory known colloquially as negative “hashprice.”
This economic strain compelled miners facing rising operational expenses to offload substantial amounts of their holdings aggressively—an influx which overwhelmed ETF demand temporarily buoying prices—and triggered a sharp flash crash pushing Bitcoin toward new lows for the year-to-date period thus far.
Additionally, Cryptoquant data points toward Bitcoin entering an “extreme bearish” phase characterized not merely by technical corrections but structural weaknesses underpinning price action.
“Flatlining realized cap” indicates that fresh capital injections driving last year’s rally have largely ceased,” says Cryptoquant analysts.
They caution that any short-lived rallies are likely met swiftly with profit-taking or breakeven exits unless strong accumulation resumes.
Without renewed buying pressure absorbing excess supply overhead, $BTC's vulnerability remains high for further declines.
<h2 style="font-weight:bold;">FAQ ❓
Якова-ты, причреm тaкoй-cтоимocти биткоин упал ниже <$73K?
+Сильное давление продаж и капитуляция майнеров превзошли приток средств в ETF.-
<p&amp;amp;amp;amp;;amp;;amp;;amp;;amp;;amp;;;;Кakoй oбъeм утрат был зapeгиcтрирован? Более чем <$130 млрд было стерто с рынка криптовалют за сутки.-