The crash has shocked investors, ETF outflows are exploding, and sentiment is turning negative. But experts warn against too much panic.
Bitcoin plunges ten percent in a single day to almost 80,000 US dollars. Even for such a volatile market, that is brutal. Liquidations are exploding, panic is spreading across social networks. And suddenly the question that comes up after every major pullback is back again: Is this the beginning of a new crypto winter – or just a normal correction within an intact bull market?
We spoke to four experts: an issuer, a research analyst, an exchange CEO and an industry strategist. Their message is clear – and yet surprisingly nuanced.
Liquidations in the billions, record ETF outflows, falling tech stocks, rising yields: the mix fueling this crash is complex. What looks like a spontaneous panic is in reality an interplay of market mechanics, risk dynamics and macroeconomics. And the experts we spoke to paint one overarching picture: the pain is real, but there is no structural damage.
First, the bare numbers: within one day, Bitcoin loses almost ten percent and drops into price ranges around 80,000 US dollars that many investors have not seen for months. What is special this time is that the October liquidation wave structurally thinned out the market. At that time, 16 billion US dollars in leveraged long positions were wiped out in a single day – more than ever before. Order books lost depth. New shocks now hit a market with less buying volume and less risk appetite. That accelerates the sell-off.
On top of that, global risk sentiment is turning. The Fed is hesitating with rate cuts, bond yields are rising, tech stocks are weakening, the AI narrative is starting to crack. And Bitcoin is reacting – as so often – faster and more violently than everything else.
Johanna Belitz (Valour): “This is a normal pullback”
For Johanna Belitz, Head of Nordics at crypto issuer Valour, the current slump fits into a historical pattern. Corrections like this are part of the crypto market and have been repeating for years. Despite growing institutional participation, the market is still volatile and heavily dependent on sentiment and global events.
Belitz points out that the October liquidation wave structurally weakened the market. Many leveraged positions were cleared out, reducing order book depth. So when a macroeconomic shock hits – as now – it meets a market that is less able to absorb it:
“The aftershocks of the massive liquidation wave in October are amplifying the downward momentum.”
She sees investor nervousness as significant, but not to an extent that points to systemic problems. In her view, everything is still happening within the framework of a normal bull-market cycle – rough, but familiar.
Violeta Todorova (Leverage Shares): “ETF investors are in the red – this is the highest stress point”
Violeta Todorova, Senior Research Analyst at Leverage Shares, highlights a completely different dimension. She sees the crash mainly as a structural shift: for the first time in this cycle, the Bitcoin price has fallen below the average entry price of US spot ETF investors. That is more than just a psychological threshold, because spot ETFs are physically backed – outflows translate into real selling pressure.
Todorova describes an interplay of macroeconomic headwinds and an industry that is feeling for the first time what it means when ETF investors come under pressure.
“The latest drop has caught ETF investors wrong-footed,”
she says.
“Many of these investors are now in the red.”
This also explains the massive outflows in November, which have now totaled around 2.8 billion US dollars. Added to this is the deteriorating global risk environment: tech stocks are falling, yields are rising, hedging costs are going up. Bitcoin reacts first and, as always, faster and more sharply than others.
Todorova emphasizes, however, that the market still shows no signs of a systemic crisis:
“The downtrend is driven by macroeconomics, not by structural damage.”
The underlying patterns, she argues, look more like the typical 25–30 percent corrections that often occur in an ongoing bull market. To her, it looks more like a painful intermediate stage than a final crash.
For Denny Morawiak, Coinbase’s Country Manager for Germany, what’s happening right now isn’t a collapse of faith in crypto — it’s simply the market taking a step back and catching its breath. The main driver, in his view, isn’t anything happening inside the industry itself, but what’s unfolding outside of it: growing uncertainty around AI, anxiety about a possible tech bubble, and a noticeable drop in global risk appetite. Money is pulling back everywhere, and crypto, as usual, feels it first and stronger than most.
He’s convinced, though, that the foundation of the crypto world is actually much stronger than people give it credit for in moments like these. Over the past year, regulation has become clearer, the infrastructure has matured, and institutional players are more involved than ever. On-chain activity continues to evolve. Volatility may dominate the headlines, but beneath the noise, the structure is holding up just fine.
Joshua Krüger from the dEURO Association sees things a bit more sharply. In his opinion, the real problem wasn’t the drop — it was the unrealistic expectations that came before it. Too many investors bought into a convenient political narrative, assuming that a more crypto-friendly US administration, regulatory tailwinds and ETF approvals would automatically send prices higher forever. And when the market didn’t follow the script, disappointment turned into panic.
“Political promises don’t replace risk management,” he says — and it’s hard to argue with that now.
He points out that the massive ETF outflows we’re seeing aren’t really strategic, long-term decisions. They’re emotional reactions — frustration, fear, fatigue. At the same time, the AI story that pulled so much capital into risk assets is starting to crack. Well-known short sellers are going after big AI names, budgets are tightening, and everything that’s considered “risky” takes a hit. Add to that geopolitical pressure, Japan’s rate policy, massive global debt — and you get a perfect cocktail for a pullback.
Still, Krüger doesn’t see this as the end of the road for crypto. Quite the opposite. For him, it’s more like a brutal reality check — one the market probably needed. Because when the hype fades, what’s left is what really matters: infrastructure, regulation, scarcity, technology. And none of that has disappeared.
So yes, the crash hurts. It scares people. It shakes out the weak hands. But according to the people who live and breathe this market every day, it’s not a breakdown — it’s a pause. A painful, uncomfortable pause in a world that had started to believe charts only go up. Historically, these are the moments nobody wants to touch… and that often end up defining the next big move.
When volatility spikes and the fear index screams “extreme panic”, the main question for most investors is actually очень simple: where can you still buy crypto safely, with low fees, and not feel like you’re gambling on the venue itself.
On FORECK.INFO you’ll find an up-to-date guide to the best crypto exchanges and best crypto wallets. We update it constantly based on trading fees, spreads, liquidity, regulation and real user feedback — so you don’t have to sort through marketing promises and random forum opinions.
If you’re looking for low fees and deep order books during heavy sell-offs, “smart money” flow still tends to concentrate on the usual leaders: Binance, OKX, Bybit, KuCoin. That’s where you usually see tight spreads, fast execution and enough liquidity so your orders don’t slip half a percent on every click.
For storage, more and more people are quietly moving away from keeping everything on exchanges and switching to self-custody. In our wallet section we break down the pros and cons of hardware options like Ledger, Trezor and Tangem, as well as convenient hot wallets such as Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Exodus, Rabby or Phantom – where they’re strong, where they’re risky, and for кого они вообще подходят.
