Bitcoin Traders Hit Peak Unrealized Pain As Etfs Start To Turn...

Bitcoin traders are facing the most pressure of this cycle in terms of unrealized losses, but analysts argue that ETFs only accounted for a maximum of 3% the recent selling pressure.

Bitcoin may be nearing a make-or-break point as short-term traders sit on the steepest unrealized losses of the current bull cycle.

Short-term Bitcoin (BTC) traders who have held BTC from one to three months have been sitting on losses ranging from 20% to 25% for over two weeks, marking the highest pain point of the current market cycle, according to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost.

“Once a large portion of them has capitulated, as we have seen in recent weeks, that is usually when the opportunity to accumulate becomes interesting,” he wrote in a Monday note.

This cohort will remain underwater until BTC trades back above its realized price of about $113,692, Darkfost added.

Some of the largest financial institutions remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s trajectory in 2026, despite the current correction.

On Monday, asset management giant Grayscale said that Bitcoin’s current drawdown points to a local bottom ahead of a recovery in 2026, a development that will invalidate the four-year cycle theory, according to the company.

Related: Cathie Wood still bullish on $1.5M Bitcoin price target: Finance Redefined

Despite previous concerns about the large-scale sales from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) holders, these funds were only a fraction of the selling pressure behind Bitcoin’s price decline.

“I just read that Citi analysts say that for every $1 billion pulled from Bitcoin ETFs it equals roughly a 3.4% drop in Bitcoin's price. Ok, so then by that logic, since the ETFs have taken in +$22.5b of inflows YTD BTC should be up 77% this year,” wrote Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, in a Monday X post.

Source: CoinTelegraph