Bitcoin Drops To $65,000 As Crypto Sentiment Remains Dire
- GAB NEWS
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
Bitcoin prices fell on Thursday, February 12, suffering losses as a popular gauge of crypto sentiment flirted with all-time lows.
The world’s most prominent digital currency dropped to approximately $65,000, according to Coinbase data from TradingView. At this point, it was down close to 50% from the all-time high of more than $126,000 reached late last year.
Sentiment Gauge Hits Record Fear
This happened shortly after the CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index reached a reading of five, its lowest level on record.
“It is safe to assume that no one saw this coming in October! An extraordinary reversal of fortune, to say the least,” Tim Enneking, managing partner of Psalion, stated via email.
"At the same time, the Fear & Greed Index has just set an all-time low of 5! (The index ranges from 0 to 100.) Never has there been this much fear regarding the crypto space.
He added to these comments, emphasizing that nobody knows for certain what, exactly caused bitcoin’s latest downward price movement.
“The proximate cause remains a mystery,” emphasized Enneking. “The usual suspects: whale conspiracy, massive short position holder pushing the market down somehow, flight from risk-on assets because of Trump’s steady disruption of the post-WWII world order, retail investors losing interest (certainly true, but how much causality…), etc.”
“Price discovery is happening in perpetual markets like Hyperliquid. Over the past day, funding rates on BTC flipped negative indicating more shorts than longs,” he noted via email. “That funding rate has since flipped back after today’s capitulation in price.”
“My crypto circles have also pointed to prediction markets culling funds from crypto,” stated Huang. “The next shiny object used to be silver and gold and now fast money retail gamblers want prediction markets instead of crypto. In short, retail sold BTC to bet on the Superbowl.”
Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, also commented on the key role that leverage has been playing in bitcoin’s latest price fluctuations.
“What we’re seeing today is a reset in leverage, not a collapse in conviction,” he claimed via emailed commentary. “Bitcoin is trading in the mid $60,000 range, and I predict ETH to slip into the high $1,000s, reflecting macro hesitation and capital stepping back from crowded ETF and derivatives positioning.”
“Funding rates have turned defensive, leveraged longs have largely been flushed out, and that deleveraging is healthy. This is typical late-cycle consolidation where excess risk gets cleared before the next structural move.”
Daniel Bara, director of the Olympus Association, offered his two cents on the situation, claiming through email that “The decline reflects institutional de-risking, leveraged liquidations, and supply-side pressure, compounded by macro shifts.”
“Since November, more than $5 billion has flowed out of Bitcoin ETFs as institutions have steadily de-risked," he noted.
“Trump’s tariff announcements on eight European nations triggered hundreds of millions in liquidations and demonstrated that Bitcoin trades as a risk asset during geopolitical stress, not as a hedge against it,” added Bara.
The analyst commented on additional market pressures, emphasizing that “Bitcoin miners whose all-in production costs now sit around $87,000, well above spot price, are being forced to sell reserves to stay solvent.”
“Strategy holds over 700,000 Bitcoin at a cost basis above current prices, and the market prices in the possibility of forced selling even if it never happens,” he noted.
William Stern, founder of Cardiff, took a different tack, focusing on everyday investors selling their bitcoin to meet other needs.
“Honestly, don't overthink the chart. Main Street is treating Bitcoin like a piggy bank right now and they're smashing it open.”
“You have small business owners selling not because they hate the tech, but because insurance premiums are up 22% and they gotta make payroll on Friday. It’s not really a crypto crisis, it’s a liquidity crisis.”
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