Bitcoin Plummets to 72,863 After Brief Bounce Amid Heavy Selling

Bitcoin s brief recovery collapsed as intense selling drove prices below 73,000, erasing over 130 billion in market value. According to Bitstamp, the asset hit a daily low of 72,863 a nearly 7 drop from the morning open. This downturn mirrored volatility in traditional markets, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 1.97 and the S&P 500 dropping 1.31 by mid-afternoon on February 3, 2026.
The sudden reversal was devastating for leveraged traders, triggering 283 million in total liquidations across the crypto market within a single hour. The vast majority of these were long positions 122 million in Bitcoin alone , compared to only 1.4 million in short liquidations. Terence Zimwara noted: The volatility was brutal for leveraged traders... erasing over 130 billion in value since Monday afternoon.
Significant structural headwinds are suppressing any upward momentum, most notably a miner capitulation event. The combination of reduced block rewards from the 2024 halving and falling prices has pushed even efficient mining rigs into the red. Forced to cover rising operational costs, miners have reportedly been selling large reserves, effectively neutralizing the demand generated by spot Bitcoin ETFs.
CryptoQuant data suggests Bitcoin has entered an extremely bearish market regime characterized by flattening realized cap, indicating that the fresh capital inflows which fueled the 2024 2025 rally have dried up. Current on-chain indicators, including a spike in supply in loss, suggest the path of least resistance remains downward. Analysts warn of a potential retest of macro support levels in the 56,000 to 65,000 range if the current consolidation fails to hold.