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Bitcoin Crashes Below $60,000 in Steepest Drop Since 2024
06 Feb 2026, 07:00
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Bitcoin fell 15% in a single session on February 6, hitting its lowest price since October 2024 and marking a 52% decline from October 2025's all-time high.
Bitcoin suffered its steepest single-session decline in years on February 6, falling 15% to trade near $60,000, its lowest level since October 2024. The drop capped a brutal stretch for the asset, which had reached an all-time high above $126,000 as recently as October 2025, meaning the February low represented a decline of more than 52% in under four months, one of the sharpest corrections in Bitcoin's recent trading history.
The severity of the move surprised even seasoned market participants, given that Bitcoin had opened 2026 with a strong rally that briefly pushed it toward $93,000 in early January. The reversal from those January highs to sub-$60,000 levels by early February illustrated just how quickly sentiment can shift in crypto markets when multiple negative catalysts converge in a short window.
Analysts pointed to no single cause but rather a convergence of structural and macro pressures. Concerns about monetary policy following the nomination of a more hawkish Federal Reserve chair candidate had already begun weighing on risk assets in January, and that pressure compounded through early February as institutional selling, including ETF redemptions and the unwinding of basis trades, added further downward momentum. Broader portfolio rebalancing, with some institutional capital rotating out of crypto and into AI and semiconductor equities that had continued performing well, also contributed to the selling pressure.
The scale of the drop reignited debate among analysts about how much further Bitcoin could fall, with some forecasters at the time discussing scenarios that would have taken the price meaningfully lower still. In the event, Bitcoin would go on to stabilize in the $67,000 to $70,000 range by March, but the February 6 crash remained one of the defining single-day events of the year's first quarter, a stark reminder of how quickly a strong new-year rally can unwind.
Options market data showed a sharp spike in demand for downside protection in the days following the crash, suggesting professional traders were bracing for the possibility of further declines even as some began quietly building positions around the newly established lower price levels.
The severity of the move surprised even seasoned market participants, given that Bitcoin had opened 2026 with a strong rally that briefly pushed it toward $93,000 in early January. The reversal from those January highs to sub-$60,000 levels by early February illustrated just how quickly sentiment can shift in crypto markets when multiple negative catalysts converge in a short window.
Analysts pointed to no single cause but rather a convergence of structural and macro pressures. Concerns about monetary policy following the nomination of a more hawkish Federal Reserve chair candidate had already begun weighing on risk assets in January, and that pressure compounded through early February as institutional selling, including ETF redemptions and the unwinding of basis trades, added further downward momentum. Broader portfolio rebalancing, with some institutional capital rotating out of crypto and into AI and semiconductor equities that had continued performing well, also contributed to the selling pressure.
The scale of the drop reignited debate among analysts about how much further Bitcoin could fall, with some forecasters at the time discussing scenarios that would have taken the price meaningfully lower still. In the event, Bitcoin would go on to stabilize in the $67,000 to $70,000 range by March, but the February 6 crash remained one of the defining single-day events of the year's first quarter, a stark reminder of how quickly a strong new-year rally can unwind.
Options market data showed a sharp spike in demand for downside protection in the days following the crash, suggesting professional traders were bracing for the possibility of further declines even as some began quietly building positions around the newly established lower price levels.