Bitcoin Tests $70,000 amid Macro Pressure and ETF Outflows

On 5 February, the price of the leading cryptocurrency fell to $70,119 — the lowest since October 2024. Ethereum followed suit, dipping to $2,079.

Kronos Research investment director Vincent Liu linked the drop to a break of key support after a failed bounce. He said three forces intensified the pressure: a wave of long liquidations, a sell-off in US tech, and outflows from spot ETFs.
The malaise reached equities too. Shares of Coinbase fell 6.14%, while mining company BitMine dropped 9.17%. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.51%.
Peter Chang, head of research at Presto Research, argues the current correction stems from global macroeconomic forces rather than crypto-specific woes. Investor sentiment is at its lowest since the last bear phase. A popular sentiment gauge slid to 12 (“extreme fear”).

Even so, Chang advised ignoring market noise and focusing on the long-term potential of digital-asset adoption.
Some market participants linked the sell-off to the aftermath of the 10 October 2025 incident. A database failure at Binance then caused transaction delays and mispriced quotes, triggering $19 billion of cascade liquidations. The exchange acknowledged the technical issues and paid more than $283 million in compensation.
Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi noted that during October’s disruption there was insufficient buy-side liquidity, yet liquidation mechanisms continued to function normally.

That dealt a blow to market makers, who “will need time to recover”. Qureshi stressed that, unlike traditional finance, crypto exchanges lack built-in circuit breakers. Their liquidation systems are aimed solely at protecting the platform from insolvency.
Tension was exacerbated by unconfirmed rumours of a $9 billion bitcoin sale by a Galaxy Digital client, purportedly over fears about quantum computing.

The firm’s researcher Alex Thorn rejected that speculation.