Weekly Recap (January 26-February 1, 2026)
The week of Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2026 was rough across crypto. Heavy selling pressure, forced liquidations, and a broader risk-off environment drove sharp downside volatility. Bitcoin led the move lower, with ETH and the rest of the market following.
Price action highlights
Precious Metals: It was an insane week for metals, with Gold hitting its 4.236 extension on a 15 year range and silver hitting a 2.618 extension on it’s 15 year range. I made the argument in this video that it wasn’t the right spot to rotate to metals, and sure enough, silver dropped by 30%+ a couple days later. Coinbase and Binance announcing they’re allowing metal trading the day before was a very clear top signal IMO. The rotation from metals into crypto may not be immediate, as it typically moves into equities (stock market) and then down in BTC and crypto. But I did show in this video that Gold tops before crypto and we can actually see the rotational moments in altseasons past. The first few days of next week will be telling!
Bitcoin (BTC): BTC saw aggressive downside, flushing into the mid-to-low $70Ks (roughly $74.5K–$76K at the lows) before attempting to stabilize. That move marked a meaningful pullback from recent ranges and, briefly, BTC traded below Strategy’s average cost basis for the first time in years. Liquidations spiked hard—over $2B in a single day at peak stress—with BTC bouncing back toward the ~$78K area by early February. Overall, a ~10–15% drawdown in a very short window. I put together a video on Sunday that everyone should watch here. It shows how thus far, nothing is different and how there’s a good chance a lot of retail gets wrongfooted here.
Ethereum (ETH): ETH traded mostly in the $2.3K–$2.5K range, continuing to show relative weakness. It was already down ~20%+ in the weeks leading into this period and largely mirrored BTC’s downside momentum. We’ve seen that similar to BTC, Ethereum has been exhibiting Wyckoff Distribution:
Broader market: Altcoins got hit even harder. High leverage across the board led to cascading liquidations, exposing thin liquidity and “air pockets” once key levels broke. My main focus is on the bigger cryptos and indicators.
What drove the move
Leverage unwind: This was largely a leverage flush. Once BTC lost support, long positions were forced out quickly, accelerating downside and volatility.
Macro spillover: Risk-off flows from other markets (including earlier moves in gold/silver) bled into crypto, adding pressure.
Corporate BTC buying: MicroStrategy added ~855 BTC (~$75.3M) during the drawdown, bringing total holdings to ~713,500 BTC. While price temporarily dipped below their average cost, it reinforced their long-term accumulation stance.
Flows & regulation: ETF flows had already been weakening in prior weeks, and ongoing U.S. regulatory discussions added background uncertainty, though they weren’t the direct catalyst.
Bottom line
This week wasn’t fun. Momentum flipped hard to the downside, supports were stress-tested, and excess leverage was flushed out. Corporate accumulation provided a small counterweight, but the market is clearly in a corrective phase following 2025 highs. From here, it’s all about whether price can stabilize—or if further downside needs to be worked through. For now, I remain bullish, but this will be a huge week for us! If we need to alter our strategy we will, but I’m still cautiously optimistic we see a turnaround here.
As always, volatility is the cost of admission. Stay level-headed and zoom out. WAGMI!
