The core divergence in the current market is whether this round of impact is the beginning of a bear market or a deep cleansing during a bull market.
The chain of events is very clear.
After $BTC hit an all-time high of $126k on October 5-6,
market sentiment was extremely exuberant, and leverage levels had accumulated to historical highs.
At this time, the U.S. policy upgrade on tariffs and software export restrictions against China constituted a typical exogenous shock, instantly reversing the pricing logic of global risk assets.
The macroeconomic headwinds from President Trump directly pierced through the leverage bubble within the crypto market. According to multiple data sources cross-validated, the liquidation scale of long positions reached nearly $19 billion, marking one of the most extreme single-day deleveraging events on record.
The market narrative switched from a celebration of new highs to a liquidity crunch in a matter of hours, causing the price of $BTC to retract nearly 18% from its peak within days, making this the second high-level cliff pattern we have experienced this year.
Will we enter a deep bear market?
I believe the market is likely to enter a high-level oscillation digestion period lasting 4 to 8 weeks, and during this time, there is a small probability of evolving into a deep bear market.
The main reason is that this policy shock has not yet escalated into direct financial sanctions; rather, it has triggered a repricing of risk premiums, and with the backdrop of ETF capital inflows not being completely destroyed, the market has sufficient time to repair the damaged risk appetite. $BTC is likely to oscillate repeatedly within the $100k–$120k range, consuming time to cleanse high leverage and uncertain holders.
These two months are also a critical stage for whether the market will turn into a structural bear market. The primary task is definitely survival. In the current crypto market context driven by ETF spot, traders can completely exchange time for certainty, waiting for clear right-side signals to appear before reconsidering active buying and increasing positions.
Monday: Negotiations with Iran are progressing smoothly, Tuesday: Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have hit record levels, Wednesday: Iran is desperate to reach a deal, Thursday: Not in the mood to make a deal with Iran, Friday: A full-scale conflict with Iran is about to break out, Saturday: A major strike against Iran is imminent, Sunday: Strikes against Iran are temporarily put on hold,
Victims: Friends who got liquidated in the capital markets.
October 27: Israeli election, October 28: FOMC meeting, October 28: Google and Meta earnings reports, October 29: Amazon and Apple earnings reports, November 3: U.S. midterm elections,
Capital markets are about to experience significant volatility,
The choppy crypto market that’s lasted all of October is about to come to an end.
As mentioned earlier, the Treasury forecast that the TGA would reach around $1.05 trillion in late October. But its actual balance is now around $934.7 billion, which means there will still be pressure from Treasury cash absorption in the second half of the month.
On top of that, some of the spot buying power for BTC is disappearing.
BTC will most likely dip below $80,000 on some day next week,
The problem with crypto altcoins right now is that very few people are willing to keep adding to their spot holdings.
Coinbase’s September holdings study, published on October 2, shows:
- Altcoin open interest has gained ground relative to BTC: the ratio rose from an August average of 0.71 to a September average of 0.86, topping 1.0 at the end of the month.
- BTC’s own leverage ratio declined for the fourth consecutive month.
- The average market cap of altcoins rose about 22% month over month in September.
Altcoin prices and derivatives positions have expanded rapidly, but spot buying has not accelerated significantly at the same time.
As a result, altcoin price action probably follows a pattern like this:
First, a narrative starts gaining traction, and perpetuals traders actively add leverage.
Then, rising prices attract more momentum-chasing positions. So market caps and trading volumes expand together, making it look as if the sector or project is attracting a lot of capital.
The rally pauses briefly as funding rates rise and long positions are closed, causing token prices to drop rapidly.
Unlike DWF’s market-making style back then, these coins fall along with BTC sentiment and are also very poor at absorbing sell orders.
Crypto needs an altcoin that makes buyers feel comfortable holding their positions.