Bitcoin (BTC) extended its decline on Friday, sliding to levels not seen since early February, leaving the broader market under renewed pressure and deepening bearish sentiment.
Since reaching its all-time high of $126,000 last October, Bitcoin is now down roughly 52%, reinforcing the sense that the sell-off is more than a short-term dip.
Bitcoin Treasury Stocks Fall From $134B To $72B
While traditional market weakness has been part of the story, whale activity has also played a major role in the most recent drop. One of the clearest signals that unnerved traders came from Strategy (MSTR).
As previously reported by NewsBTC, Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in nearly four years. The company offloaded 32 BTC for approximately $2.5 million—an amount that may look small compared with overall market volumes.
However, the real impact has been psychological. Watching the largest Bitcoin public holder and the face of the “never sell” narrative break that behavior sent a shockwave through crypto sentiment.
The broader market’s reaction has been visible in equity-linked crypto holdings as well. Artemis data cited by Bloomberg shows that the combined market value of fully diluted Bitcoin treasury company stocks has fallen to about $72 billion, compared with nearly $134 billion at the most recent peak in early October. That means roughly $62 billion has been erased during the downturn.
Support Could Form Between $54,000 And $50,000
Hayden Hughes, managing partner at Tokenize Capital, said the current environment forces difficult choices for these digital-asset treasuries. In his view, once prices unwind, companies face a stark decision: either default on their debt obligations or sell assets.
Hughes added that this kind of forced selling damages the market’s earlier assumption that Bitcoin treasury holders would behave like permanent “buy and hold” participants. When that expectation breaks, sentiment can deteriorate quickly, making rebounds less likely under these conditions.
Market analyst Ali Martinez recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Bitcoin is approaching a market bottom. Martinez identified the MVRV Pricing Bands as a useful framework for determining where support could emerge.
He stated that the next significant support level is between $54,000 and $50,000, which could serve as a floor for the cryptocurrency. However, this would require an additional 17% retracement from current trading levels of $60,444.
Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com