Bitcoiners probably can’t wait for February to be over.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has plunged by 17.7% at the time of writing — and is on course for its worst month since June 2022.
This tepid performance is also unusual given how February tends to be a pretty good month for Bitcoin.
Image: Coinglass
Coinglass data shows that, before 2025, this digital asset had only notched up a loss in two Februaries since 2013 — and usually sees an average price gain of 13%.
March tends to be more of a mixed picture, with Bitcoin posting a loss in as many months as it’s made gains.
Early on Friday, BTC slid to lows of $78,248.92, levels not seen since immediately after Donald Trump won the presidential election.
There has been a sudden rebound from the psychologically important threshold of $80,000 though, and BlackRock’s to thank for that.
The major investment company — which runs the market-leading spot Bitcoin ETF on Wall Street — has just made a significant announcement.
For the first time, some of BlackRock’s model portfolios will gain exposure to the iShares Bitcoin Trust, which could increase demand after weeks of outflows.
This will benefit products that focus on alternative assets, and could pave the way for IBIT to be more widely adopted in the future.
It’s worth stressing that the allocation will be modest — about 1% or 2% — but that’s in keeping with what most experts recommend when it comes to investing in BTC.
Given that the total value of BlackRock’s model portfolios stands at $150 billion, it’s a small but vital step on the road to wider adoption.
Correction… or End of Bull Market?
The big question right now is whether this is a temporary pullback for Bitcoin — or a signal that we won’t see $100,000 again until the next bull cycle. YouHodler’s chief of markets Ruslan Lienkha told Cryptonews:
“According to technical analysis, the next target for Bitcoin’s price is around the $70,000 level, which serves as a strong support zone. However, we will only see this level if negative sentiment dominates the equity markets. U.S. stock indices have been in the red for several consecutive days, but it is still too early to conclude that the broader uptrend has ended — it could simply be a market correction.”
Lienkha went on to warn that the correlation between Bitcoin and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 remains high at the moment — but this is a cryptocurrency that’s prone to “significantly greater volatility and price swings.”
“Crypto markets often react more sharply to macroeconomic conditions, but overall, Bitcoin tends to follow broader risk sentiment reflected in tech stocks.”
He believes that “restrictive monetary policy or financial market instability” could weigh heavily on crypto as a whole — and given Donald Trump has vowed to push ahead with punishing new tariffs on Mexico and Canada from Tuesday, it’s likely more turbulence lies ahead unless there’s a last-minute reprieve.
Big Changes — and Big Opportunities?
Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan recently argued that “adjusted for risk, this is the best time in history to buy Bitcoin” — and said the market malaise comes as crypto digests “the end of the meme coin boom.”
“The good news is there are already things ready to replace it, including the institutional adoption of Bitcoin, stablecoins, tokenization, and a rebirth in DeFi. But until they start making their presence felt, the loss of energy will create a drag on the market.”
Exacerbated by the likes of $TRUMP, $MELANIA and $LIBRA, the implosion of meme coins has been powerfully illustrated by the performance of Solana. It’s fallen 50% from all-time highs of $294.33 set back on January 19.
But YouHodler’s head of risk Sergei Gorev told Cryptonews that Solana is his “favorite” cryptocurrency when it comes to the prospects for medium-term growth.
“Currently, there is a decline in the activity of meme coin traders, most of whom were just posted on SOL. However, SOL is a reasonably promising participant in the crypto market and is already successfully competing with ETH, gradually taking away market share from it. In this case, if a rebound begins, SOL may show itself most strongly, and if the price continues to decline, it may decline more slowly. The main phase of the decline took place without the rest of the crypto participants.”
The post Why This Bitcoin Crash Is Significant—and Which Altcoins Experts Say to Watch appeared first on Cryptonews.
