Bitcoin continues to face intense selling pressure, breaking below its yearly lows amid escalating geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran. This risk-off backdrop has accelerated downside momentum, and while further weakness remains possible, the market is increasingly approaching levels that could trigger a short-term consolidation phase in the days ahead.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, BTC has been hit by aggressive sell-side activity, driving the price decisively below key support levels, including the major yearly low at $74K. The decline has now extended into the $70K psychological zone, a historically significant area where resting demand and dip-buying interest are likely to emerge.

If this demand region succeeds in absorbing selling pressure and fresh buyers step in, the current downtrend may pause, allowing the market to transition into a corrective consolidation phase. In that scenario, the price action would likely stabilize within a $70K–$80K range as the market cools off. However, a clear failure to hold the $70K level would expose Bitcoin to another downside leg, with the next notable support located near the $63K region.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

From a lower-timeframe perspective, the 4-hour chart shows Bitcoin trading within a well-defined bearish channel, confirming a structurally weak market environment. The asset recently broke below the channel’s midline near $74K, triggering an impulsive sell-off toward the lower boundary of the structure.

Despite the sharp decline, Bitcoin has now reached a critical support level at $70K, which also carries strong psychological importance for market participants. Given the speed and intensity of the recent move, the market is likely in need of a consolidation and corrective phase. As a result, the most probable near-term scenario is choppy, range-bound price action around the $70K support until a clearer directional signal emerges. In the event of a relief bounce, the $75K and $80K supply zones stand out as the primary upside targets.

Sentiment Analysis

The futures average order size chart shows a notable shift in participant behavior as Bitcoin trades around the $70K region. The appearance of green dots at this level signals renewed whale participation, indicating that large players are actively engaging when price revisits this zone. Importantly, this is not an isolated event. The previous two occasions when Bitcoin traded around the same price range were also accompanied by green dots, reinforcing the idea that this area has historically attracted whale interest.

This repeated pattern suggests that the $70K region is perceived by large market participants as a favorable accumulation or positioning zone rather than an area for aggressive distribution. In contrast to periods dominated by red dots, which reflect retail-heavy or reactive selling, the return of green dots points to more strategic, higher-conviction activity in the futures market.

If this behavior persists and whale participation continues to strengthen around current levels, it increases the probability of a short- to mid-term rebound. Large orders entering at these prices can absorb selling pressure and act as a catalyst for stabilization, potentially setting the stage for a relief move higher if broader market conditions allow.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) wasted no time Thursday asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the big question: Is China using blockchain to create a rival to American financial dominance?

Bessent told the Senate Banking Committee he “would not be surprised.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” he added. “There are lots of rumors that China may be developing digital assets backed by something other than the RMB, perhaps gold-based. We haven’t seen that.”

Crypto firms offered concessions on stablecoins, including reserve-sharing with banks, to ease tensions blocking a major digital asset bill.

The crypto industry has reportedly proposed sharing stablecoin reserves with community lenders as it steps up efforts to win over skeptical banks.

The move aims to preserve the stalled crypto market structure bill that could significantly alter the financial system.

Deposit Fears and the Search For Compromise

A Bloomberg report revealed that crypto firms have spent weeks trying to win over doubtful banks by offering new concessions focused on stablecoins, which have become the central point of disagreement.

According to sources cited in the report, the latest ideas include giving community banks a larger role in the stablecoin ecosystem. One proposal would require issuers to hold a portion of their reserves at these financial institutions. Another recommendation would make it easier for these firms to issue their own dollar-pegged digital assets.

However, the two sides have not agreed on any resolution, and it remains unclear whether the proposals would go far enough to address fears of customers moving deposits out of the banking system.

A separate report from analyst Geoff Kendrick had warned that stablecoins could lead to the exit of as much as $500 billion in bank deposits across industrialized nations by the end of 2028. This comes as the overall digitalized dollar market continues to experience notable growth, with the total supply in circulation having risen by roughly 40% over the past year.

Digital Asset Firms Remain Divided

On the other hand, not all crypto companies are aligned with the suggestions. One of the biggest points of contention is whether platforms like Coinbase should be allowed to pay users rewards for holding stablecoins. Traditional financial institutions also argue that these payouts could pull customers away from checking and savings accounts, which threatens a major source of deposits for them.

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In an attempt to resolve this, the Trump administration convened a meeting at the White House on Monday between crypto and banking trade groups, but the talks ended without agreement on how to resolve these core issues.

Despite the friction, the development is still being viewed as a positive sign that the market-structure bill will keep moving in Congress. This is after the legislation was passed by the House of Representatives last year, but has since slowed in the Senate due to unresolved disagreements between the two sectors.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Fox News, Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, expressed his optimism about finding a compromise.

“We can protect consumers and community banks while still allowing innovation and competition to lower prices and expand access,” the senator said. “Both sides are working toward a compromise that keeps innovation here in America.”

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu slid deeper into selloff territory even as on-chain activity spiked, underscoring a growing disconnect between network usage and price action across the meme-coin sector.

Dogecoin (DOGE) active addresses jumped 36% over the past week to more than 71,400, signaling renewed participation on the network.

But the surge failed to support prices, with DOGE falling 3% to about $0.102 and Shiba Inu dropping 2% to roughly $0.0000066.

Heavy net outflows, weakening technical structures, and broken support levels suggest both tokens remain vulnerable to further downside, as increased activity appears driven more by distribution than accumulation.

Dogecoin, originally created as a joke in 2013, briefly soared to a $90 billion market cap in 2021 but has since lost over 90% of its value.

Despite a rally in late 2024, the meme coin remains down 62% in 2025 and lacks a real use case like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Its speculative nature and endless supply—leading to constant dilution—make it vulnerable to further declines. With no fundamental catalysts in sight, a 50% drop in 2026, potentially returning Dogecoin to its 2022 low of $0.05, seems likely.

Shiba Inu is the pits

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has been volatile after recently hitting a monthly low of $0.0000065 on February 1, following a high of $0.0000097 on January 6.

These price swings reflect SHIB’s sensitivity to sentiment and liquidity.

Shiba Inu is currently trading at $0.00000641, a 92% drop from its October 2021 all-time high. The token is below key moving averages, and while the RSI shows oversold conditions, no reversal has occurred. SHIB is testing critical support at $0.00000638, and a breakdown below this level could push it to $0.0000055.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem is facing challenges, including weak daily transaction volume and a lack of sustained utility, despite its integration of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) in Q2 2026, which could boost privacy and security. The launch of a crypto ETF by T. Rowe Price could also attract regulated capital, but approval odds are low.

According to one report, Shiba Inu’s price could range between $0.000015-$0.000025 by 2027 if privacy upgrades succeed and the ETF is approved, with conservative estimates placing it between $0.000010–$0.000015.

Key resistance levels are $0.00000732, $0.0000078, and $0.00000851. Monitoring Shibarium transaction volumes and burn rates, along with Bitcoin’s performance, will be key for investors tracking SHIB’s potential recovery.

Crypto users lost about $370.3 million to exploits in January, according to data from security analytics firm CertiK.

CertiK said in a post on X that $311.3 million of the total was linked to phishing, with a single social engineering scam accounting for about $284 million. Phishing is a type of cybercrime in which attackers impersonate reputable entities (such as banks or employers) to deceive individuals into revealing sensitive information.

The firm said the single large incident targeted an individual user rather than exploiting a smart contract bug. This means that only about 16% of total losses were linked to non-phishing incidents, such as code flaws, price manipulation, or wallet compromises, according to CertiK’s breakdown.

The findings suggest that even as protocols improve their defenses against technical exploits, it can still be difficult to prevent losses tied to human behavior. Scams that rely on deception, trust, and errors in judgment continue to account for a large share of losses.

Physical Attacks Are Also Rising

CertiK also found a rise in physical attacks linked to crypto theft in its Skynet Wrench Attacks Report. The firm said so-called wrench attacks increased 75% in 2025, resulting in $40.9 million in confirmed losses, though it noted the figure is likely underreported.

These attacks involve using force or threats to gain access to crypto wallets or private keys. Kidnapping remained the most common method, while physical assaults rose 250% year over year. Europe accounted for more than 40% of reported cases, with France recording the highest number of attacks.

CertiK said the trend shows that physical violence is becoming a real risk for crypto holders, especially founders and people known to control large amounts of digital assets. The firm added that protecting crypto now requires thinking beyond software security to include personal safety.

Exactly one year ago, “crypto czar” David Sacks hosted a press conference alongside Representative French Hill, Senator John Boozman, Senator Tim Scott, and Representative GT Thompson to announce they hoped to advance a stablecoin regulation bill and a cryptocurrency market structure bill out of both the Senate and the House within 100 days.

Despite these bold commitments, neither of these bills was passed within those first 100 days.

Eventually, the stablecoin regulation bill would be passed, in the form of the GENIUS Act, but well after the self-imposed deadline had lapsed.

Ripple’s XRP remains under sustained bearish pressure, with the price continuing to print lower lows and failing to reclaim key supply zones. The broader structure still reflects a dominant downtrend, and the recent price action suggests sellers remain in control as the market approaches a critical demand area that could define the next directional move.

Ripple Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, XRP is trading deep within a bearish market structure, having lost multiple former support levels that have now flipped into resistance. The price is currently pressing into a well-defined demand zone at the $1.3 range highlighted on the chart, an area that previously acted as a base before the last impulsive upside move. This zone represents the first meaningful area where buyers may attempt to slow the decline.

However, the broader daily trend remains decisively bearish. Each corrective bounce over the past months has been capped by lower supply zones, and the asset has consistently respected these areas before continuing lower. As long as XRP remains below the channel’s mid-trendline of $1.6, any bounce from the current demand should be treated as corrective rather than trend-reversing.

Nevertheless, a failure to hold this demand zone would significantly weaken the structure and open the door for a deeper continuation toward lower, untested liquidity levels. Conversely, a strong daily reaction from this area would be required to signal short-term relief, but not yet a confirmed trend shift.

XRP/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart provides additional clarity on the internal structure of the downtrend. Recent price action shows a sharp rejection from successive supply zones, confirming that sellers are aggressively defending these levels.

Following the latest rejection, the asset accelerated lower and is now approaching the $1.3 critical support, which also aligns with the broader demand zone visible on the daily timeframe. This confluence increases the probability of at least a short-term reaction, as short sellers may begin to take profits and reactive buyers step in.

That said, the presence of multiple stacked supply zones above the current price at $1.6 and $2 significantly limits upside potential in the near term. Any rebound toward these levels would likely face renewed selling pressure, unless accompanied by a clear break in structure and acceptance above the channel. Until such confirmation appears, the 4-hour trend remains firmly bearish, with rallies best viewed as pullbacks within a broader downtrend.

Meanwhile, XRP continues to be the poorest performing altcoin today.

Bitcoin has officially wiped out all gains registered after the reelection of Donald Trump to step back in the White House at the end of 2024. The cryptocurrency plummeted to just over $65,000 minutes ago, which actually puts it in a minor loss since the presidential elections.

Moreover, this means that it has lost almost $25,000 since last Wednesday. It has also shed nearly 50% of its value since the all-time high marked in early October 2025.

Naturally, investors tend to ask themselves what the most probable reason is behind this crash. As with all previous declines from the past several weeks, it doesn’t seem to be aligned with problematic fundamentals within the BTC ecosystem as a whole.

Analysts from the Kobeissi Letter indicated that the actual reason behind the consecutive price dumps is “emotional” selling. Riskier assets, such as BTC, tend to move frequently due to investor sentiment, and the current bearish trend appears to be driven by a mass exodus without any fundamental basis.

BREAKING: Bitcoin falls below $66,000 for the first time since October 2024, now down -$11,000 this week alone.

This is beginning to feel like “emotional” selling. pic.twitter.com/SMUczlcNzo

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) February 5, 2026

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Doctor Profit, an analyst known for their rather bearish calls who has been predicting a substantial crash for months, noted that they have placed “big buy” orders at around $57,000-$60,000, which could be the current trend’s bottom.

The analyst added that they plan to hold for 2-3 months, and they are not interested in buying higher than that.

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“I consider $57k-$60k as a great entry to make money for the short term and gain some serious % before we continue going down.”

On the other hand, MMCrypto said he believes BTC is indeed in a bear market, but it’s almost over time-wise.

I think this Bitcoin Bear Market is almost over (time wise).

We are in the last capitulation move, which may continue for a bit. Once we have MAX PAIN, it’s over, soon!

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I am getting ready NOW already.

MONEY MAKING TIME IS APPROACHING! 🚀

— MMCrypto (@MMCrypto) February 4, 2026

Elsewhere, the altcoins are getting obliterated as well, and XRP is the poorest performer for some reason. The token has plummeted by almost 20% in just 24 hours and now struggles below $1.25.

The question now is whether a price dump below $1.00 is inevitable at this point.

The past 24 hours, just like several other such periods in the past few weeks, will go down in the history books as highly volatile and violent for the entire cryptocurrency market.

Although BTC and most altcoins are deep in the red, XRP has emerged as the worst-performing coin from the top 100 digital assets, which is somewhat strange and unexpected since it’s the third-largest altcoin.

The token has plunged by almost 22% in a day, a pattern more commonly seen in small caps. However, XRP’s demise is spectacular on different timeframes, not just daily.

For instance, it has plunged by 32% in the past week. Furthermore, it traded at $2.40 on January 6, meaning that its current dump to $1.20 came after a 50% monthly decline. On a more macro scale, the cross-border token has erased 67% of its value since its all-time high of $3.65 registered in mid-July 2025.

At the time of this writing, it’s not clear why XRP has crashed so much harder than most other larger-cap cryptocurrencies. After all, the company behind it continues to expand and make major announcements. However, ETH, BNB, and BTC are down by more modest 10-11%.

Nevertheless, some members of the XRP Army remain unfazed by the ongoing crash. ERGAG CRYPTO, who is among the most vocal supporters of Ripple’s token, admitted that the asset’s breakdown has been confirmed.

Still, they told their 92,000+ followers on X that they “pulled the trigger after 3 years” by buying XRP at $1.28 as a swing trade. On the plus side, they plan to hold that position until the price bounces to $2.20 if it reclaims $1.85. If the $1.28 suppor cracks decisively, they are comfortable holding the tokens as it’s a small allocation.

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#XRP – Sweep & Bounce or Breakdown (Update):

The breakdown is now confirmed.

I pulled the trigger after 3 years: I bought #XRP $1.28 as a swing trade.
My plan:
▫️ If price reclaims $1.85, I’ll hold for a move toward $2.20
▫️ A confirmed close above $2.50 → reassess the… pic.twitter.com/2O5inqQlSo

— EGRAG CRYPTO (@egragcrypto) February 5, 2026

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Ethereum (ETH) traded under $2,000 on Thursday, Feb. 5, for the first time since May 2025, amid a broader sell-off across crypto markets.

ETH fell about 10% over the past 24 hours to trade near $1,925, extending its weekly losses to 30%. Paul Howard, senior director at Wincent, said Ethereum’s move lower was driven by a broader shift away from risk in global markets, rather than a crypto-specific event.

“The defining characteristic of the sell-off was a synchronised de-risking across asset classes, marked by forced unwinds and elevated volatility even in assets typically viewed as hedges, including precious metals,” he said.

Howard also explained that the shift’s catalyst was the markets “rapidly repricing the outlook for monetary policy” following the nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair.

Meanwhile, data from Lookonchain showed that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold 2,961.5 ETH (around $6.6 million) at an average price of $2,228 over the past three days.

Bitcoin and Altcoins

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped roughly 10% on the day to around $65,700, extending its seven-day losses to nearly 21%. Among other major tokens, BNB slid 9% to $646, while XRP plunged nearly 20% to about $1.24. Solana (SOL) fell 12% on the day to trade near $82.

“Bitcoin is now testing key technical support between $60,000 and $70,000, the base of the pre-election rally. A sustained break below this range would increase the risk of a more protracted move lower, while stabilization here would point to a corrective reset rather than a structural shift,” Diana Pires, VP at sFOX, told The Defiant.

Total cryptocurrency market capitalization declined to approximately $2.33 trillion, down about 10% over the past 24 hours. Trading activity during the same period totaled roughly $259.5 billion.

A small number of tokens traded higher despite the broader downturn. Rain (RAIN) rose about 7% over the past 24 hours, while MYX Finance (MYX) gained 5.4%. MemeCore (M) added 1.6%.

On the downside, XRP fell more than 16%, while Zcash (ZEC) dropped 15.4%. Monero (XMR) slid nearly 14%.

Liquidations and ETF flows

More than $1.44 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass, with long positions accounting for roughly $1.23 billion of that total.

Bitcoin recorded the largest liquidations at about $738 million, followed by Ethereum at $338 million. Solana posted liquidations of around $77 million. In total, more than 304,000 traders were liquidated on the day.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $544.9 million in net outflows on Feb. 4, while Ethereum ETFs saw $79.5 million in net outflows. Spot Solana ETFs recorded $6.7 million in net outflows. By contrast, spot XRP ETFs posted $4.8 million in net inflows.

Tech Selloff Continues

Elsewhere, political developments are also weighing on digital assets, driven by uncertainty in Washington as lawmakers continue to negotiate key budget and immigration measures.

Weakness in U.S. tech stocks has also placed pressure on the situation, contributing to a broader pullback across global markets.

Meanwhile, gold prices have fallen 1.3% on the day, while silver dropped more than 9%, after hitting all-time highs recently.