Lost the $70,000 mark! Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level since Trump's election, and the market is in a "crisis of confidence"!

Bitcoin briefly fell below the critical psychological level of $70,000 on Thursday, marking the first time this cryptocurrency has reached this level in 15 months. A global sell-off of risk assets has pushed the world's largest cryptocurrency into a new downward channel.

Shiliang Tang, managing partner at Monarq Asset Management, stated, "The market is currently experiencing a 'crisis of confidence.' Given that the current government has promised to strengthen the U.S. leadership in the digital asset space, $70,000 is seen as an important psychological level. Therefore, some market observers believe that the breach of $70,000 could trigger a larger-scale sell-off in the short term."

On Thursday, during pre-market trading in the U.S., Bitcoin briefly dropped to a low of $69,821. Since reaching its peak last October, Bitcoin has cumulatively fallen over 44% and is currently hovering near its lowest level since Trump won the 2024 election. Meanwhile, the total market capitalization has evaporated by $1.7 trillion since its peak last October, with over $460 billion lost in just the past week.

According to Coinglass data, the liquidation of long positions across various tokens reached $722 million in the past 24 hours. Wenny Cai, COO of trading platform SynFutures, pointed out that the scale of liquidations is massive, market sentiment has shifted to risk aversion, and price movements are currently driven more by balance sheet mechanisms rather than narrative logic.

Bitcoin's role as a safe-haven asset under market pressure is facing increasing scrutiny. The token has fallen nearly 20% year-to-date, while global stock markets only began to sell off in sync on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq 100 index dropping over 2%, and Asian and European markets continuing the downward trend on Thursday.

Critical Psychological Level Breached, Is Bitcoin in a "Downward Spiral"?

The $70,000 price point holds significant political and psychological importance. This level represents the trading price of Bitcoin before the U.S. election, marking the starting point of the cryptocurrency rally triggered by Trump's victory. According to a previous article by Wall Street View, Citigroup analysts noted that cryptocurrency advocates are enthusiastic donors in the U.S. elections, and the current government has promised to strengthen U.S. leadership in the digital asset space and establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

According to CoinMetrics data, Bitcoin briefly fell to a low of $69,821 around 6:27 AM Eastern Time on Thursday, before rebounding above $70,000. Some market observers believe that falling below $70,000 could trigger a larger-scale sell-off.

Andrew Tu, head of business development at cryptocurrency market maker Efficient Frontier, stated that the current sentiment in the cryptocurrency market is in a state of extreme panic "If Bitcoin cannot hold above $72,000, it is very likely to drop to $68,000, and may even fall back to the low point after the initial rebound in early 2024."

Maja Vujinovic, CEO of digital asset company FG Nexus, told CNBC: "The linear bull market that many expected has not really materialized. Bitcoin is no longer traded based on speculation; the narrative has lost some of its plot, and it is now purely traded based on liquidity and capital flows."

Institutional Funds Continue to Flow Out, Walsh's Hawkish Signals Intensify Selling Pressure

Unlike the stock market, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been declining for several months. The fund flows of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds listed in the U.S. have continued to fluctuate, showing a significant reversal in institutional demand.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, after recording a net inflow of about $562 million on Monday, over $800 million flowed out of such ETFs in the following two trading days. CryptoQuant reported on Wednesday that U.S. ETFs that purchased 46,000 Bitcoins during the same period last year have turned into net sellers by 2026.

So far this week, the scale of liquidations for cryptocurrency long and short positions has exceeded $2 billion. Analyst Wenny Cai stated: "This does not mean the end of institutional participation, but it does mark the end of complacency."

Additionally, the news that Trump nominated Walsh as the next Federal Reserve Chairman on January 29 caused Bitcoin to drop 5.5% in a single day, with January 31 recording the largest single-day decline of 7.1% since January 2018. Walsh is known for supporting higher real interest rates and reducing the balance sheet