(MENAFN- The Rio Times) Over the weekend, Bitcoin's long slide turned into a full-blown test of nerves. After a fresh wave of forced selling, the price briefly sank toward 93,000 dollars before clawing back to the mid-95,000s by Monday morning.

It is still down about 25 percent from October's peak above 126,000, and the market is trading as if nobody is really in charge. The damage is system-wide.

More than a trillion dollars in paper value has evaporated from crypto, and most of the top 100 coins spent the week in the red. The popular Fear & Greed Index has collapsed into extreme fear, with readings in the low teens that scream anxiety rather than conviction.

Behind the screens, big money is stepping away rather than stepping in. Long-term holders have unloaded an estimated 815,000 coins – roughly 77 billion dollars at current prices.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs, once sold as the bridge between“serious finance” and digital assets, are now pumping cash back out: hundreds of millions leaving in a single session, several billions over the month.



A 3.95-billion-dollar BTC options expiry and another 730 million in ETH contracts added to the selling pressure, exposing how much of this market rests on leverage.

The macro backdrop rewards caution, not bravado. Hopes for rapid rate cuts have faded, 10-year U.S. yields are again above 4 percent, and gold and silver have quietly risen, offering income or centuries of trust.

In that world, disciplined capital is rotating into assets with rules, oversight and predictable cash flows – not into instruments that can swing 10 percent while their owners sleep.

Altcoins tell the same story in miniature. Ethereum has slipped below key support around 3,200 dollars, Solana has broken under 150 despite solid ETF inflows, and XRP has surrendered an 8–9 percent chunk after briefly jumping above 2.50.

Litecoin is a rare winner on“digital silver” marketing, while a rotating cast of AI-themed tokens surges and collapses like chips on a roulette wheel.

Technically, Bitcoin now sits several percent below its 200-day moving average near 100,700 dollars and clings to the upper edge of its weekly Ichimoku cloud in the mid-90,000s.

Weekly momentum is negative; only short-term charts hint at fragile bounces. If this zone gives way on a weekly close, charts point to a long, grinding downturn rather than a heroic comeback.

The message is blunt. The richest players can let the price fall another 50 percent, then reload at a discount. There is no central bank, no referee, no obligation to protect latecomers – only a volatile chip on an expensive table. Treating that as a dependable store of value is a choice, but it is not a conservative one.

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