In the past few hours, Bitcoin has dropped below $80,000 amid another wave of 
liquidations as January comes to a rather volatile close. Analysts at Kobeissi 
note there have been three notable liquidation events in the past 12 hours, 
resulting in a combined loss of $1.3 billion. Such developments, coupled with 
a very fearful market after last week’s price slump, have pushed Bitcoin below 
a key price level. According to the renowned market expert Burak Kesmeci, 
Bitcoin’s behavior towards this $80,000 price zone holds significant 
consequences for the market trajectory. Related Reading: Bitcoin Estimated 
Leverage Ratio Spikes To New High — Fresh Volatility Ahead? Bitcoin Slips 
Under ETF Realized Price As Downside Risk Grows In a recent X post, Burak 
Kesmeci outlines the technical and on-chain importance of the $80,000 price 
level to the Bitcoin market. Before Bitcoin’s recent breakdown below $80,000, 
the asset had twice retested this zone following the correction phase that 
began in early October 2025. Each successful rebound from these retests 
reinforced $80,000 as a critical support level, with certain chart formations 
even hinting at potential trend reversal. This underscored the market’s 
technical sensitivity to this level before the recent loss. However, Kesmeci 
highlights an on-chain importance of the $80,000 price point in that it also 
functions as the cost basis of the Bitcoin Spot ETFs. Therefore, the recent 
price fall below $80,000 places a large cohort of institutional investors at 
risk of entering unrealized losses. In January 2026 alone, the Bitcoin ETFs 
already witnessed massive levels of withdrawals, resulting in a total net 
outflow of $1.61 billion. However, these figures are likely to surge higher as 
sustained price decline below the ETF cost basis is expected to trigger a 
wide-scale, panic-driven redemption among investors. In addition to its on- 
chain and technical importance, Kesmeci also notes that $80,000 presently 
functions as the True Market Mean. Related Reading: TD Sequential Flashes Buy 
Signal For XRP On Key Price Condition – Analyst What Next For Bitcoin? 
According to Burak Kesmeci, a bearish scenario would require a weekly close 
below the $80,000 support level. If confirmed, the analyst warns that bearish 
momentum could intensify, potentially driving Bitcoin lower toward $72,000, 
$68,000, and eventually $62,000 in sequence. This is because these levels 
align with notable volume profile clusters, representing potential areas where 
liquidity could accumulate, and the price may temporarily stabilize. 
Conversely, in a bullish scenario, Kesmeci notes that a sustained rebound from 
current levels could shift momentum back in favor of the bulls. The first 
major upside hurdle lies at $90,000, followed by the 111-period Simple Moving 
Average (SMA111) near $95,000, which is described as a critical level for 
confirming a medium-term trend reversal. A decisive break above the 
psychological $100,000 resistance would further strengthen the bullish case 
and signal a potential resumption of the broader uptrend. At press time, 
Bitcoin trades at $77,832, reflecting a 7.1% loss in the past day. Featured 
image from iStock, chart from Tradingview

Here’s Why Bitcoin Fall Below $80,000 Could Be A Deep Pit – Analyst

Bitcoin bearish sentiments continue to dominate the market, after prices fell 
below the key $80,000 on January 31, resulting in a new wave of market 
liquidations. Interestingly, a pseudonymous analyst with the username CryptoMe 
has identified an “air pocket” in the present price structure, which 
potentially points to the downside target of this recent price drop. Related 
Reading: Bitcoin Adjusted SOPR Shows Market At Pivotal Junction — What’s Next? 
Bitcoin Now Below $80K Support Zone &#8211; What Next? In a QuickTake post on 
January 31, CryptoMe draws attention to an existing price vacuum between 
$73,000 &#8211; $80,000 as confirmed by three different market metrics. This 
observation is important in anticipating Bitcoin downside targets, considering 
the presently heightened market fears following the latest price decline. 
According to CryptoMe, liquidity levels on the Binance spot order book showed 
a concentration of limit buy orders between $73,000 &#8211; $80,000 that formed 
between late October and early November. Despite the price surge from $80,000 
to around $100,000 seen in late Q4 2025, the liquidity cluster price zone 
remained untouched. Therefore, the zone is likely to act as a short-term price 
magnet should bearish momentum persist, as markets often gravitate toward 
areas of unfilled liquidity during periods of heightened volatility. Another 
on-chain metric that supports the existence of an air pocket between $73,000 &#8211; 
$80,000 is the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) price histogram. Each Bitcoin 
transaction consumes existing UTXOs and creates new ones; therefore, UTXOs are 
a good measure of on-chain transaction activity. As seen in the chart above, 
the sparse UTXO density between $73,000 and $80,000 suggests that a small 
number of transactions occurred within this price range. Thus, investors 
failed to establish a cost basis that would prevent further price decline, as 
prices have now slipped below $80,000. The final metric highlighted by 
CryptoMe is the Spot ETF Investor Average Cost, which currently stands at 
$79,000. Following the launch of the Bitcoin Spot ETFs in January 2024, 
Bitcoin has failed to trade below its realized price until now. Considering 
all three metrics, it’s likely that Bitcoin is headed for the $73,000 price 
mark, which the market has not visited since April 2025. Moreover, such a 
decline would represent a 40% devaluation from the present market all-time 
high. Related Reading: Bitcoin Historical Performance Shows How Low The Price 
Will Go Before A Bottom Bitcoin Price Overview At the time of writing, Bitcoin 
trades at $78,558, reflecting a 6.5% increase in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, 
total trading volume is up by 37.15% and valued at $74.67 billion. Featured 
image from iStock, chart from Tradingview

Bitcoin Air Pocket Presents Potential Fall To $73,000 – Details

OFAC sanctions senior Iranian security figures, Babak Zanjani, and two UK- 
registered crypto exchanges for aiding the IRGC and human rights abuses. The 
U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) 
announced on January 30, 2026 in Washington the designation of Iran’s Interior 
Minister Eskandar Momeni Kalagari and multiple Islamic Revolutionary Guard 
Corps […]

US Treasury Sanctions IRGC-Linked Digital Asset Exchanges

Solana-based DeFi platform Step Finance disclosed a treasury wallet breach 
that saw over $27 million in SOL moved onchain, sending its STEP token down 
more than 90%.

Step Finance treasury breach leads to $27M in losses, STEP crashes 90%

Strategy, the company at the center of the bitcoin treasury playbook, is now 
in the sights of crypto enthusiasts, after BTC slipped below the company’s 
average acquisition price. While Saylor has repeatedly stated he wouldn’t sell 
any bitcoin, speculation has surged around this subject. Speculation Around 
Strategy’s Bitcoin Stash Surges: Will Saylor Capitulate? Strategy, the […]

Cryptocurrency price in MYR