Wintermute stated on Feb. 3 that Bitcoin fell below $80,000 for the first time since the April 2025 Trump tariff event, with crypto liquidations over the weekend reaching $2.55 billion, the tenth-largest on record, BlockBeats reports. The firm cited several macro drivers including weaker-than-expected earnings from U.S. "Mag7" stocks that hit the AI narrative, the surprise nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chair, and a sharp pullback in precious metals where silver plunged as much as 26% intraday and triggered a CME circuit breaker. Wintermute noted that BTC broke down after two months of ranging between $85,000 and $95,000, with thin weekend liquidity and elevated leverage intensifying selling, and said crypto assets are currently the weakest performers among risk assets, indicating the market is still in a bear phase. The firm added that unlike prior structural crises linked to FTX or Luna, this drawdown has been driven more by macro and positioning factors without signs of systemic contagion, and suggested that if macro uncertainty eases and the monetary policy path becomes clearer in the second half of 2026, overall sentiment and capital interest could recover relatively quickly.

A newly created wallet withdrew 380.38 BTC, worth about $29.77 million, from Binance on Feb. 3, OnchainLens data show. The funds were transferred to address bc1qllpnn5l67csc3clp4qvf7lvu9dyemrx06x6cz5.

Centralized exchanges recorded a net inflow of 3,219.35 BTC in the past 24 hours on Feb. 3, Coinglass data show. Bitfinex led inflows with 8,675.89 BTC, followed by Gemini at 3,818.28 BTC and Bitstamp at 682.21 BTC. Binance posted the largest outflow at 5,815.38 BTC.

An address dubbed "Ultimate Short" trimmed its BTC short position in the past 6 hours on Feb. 3, realizing about $2.32M on a $5.46M close-out, Coinbob on-chain monitoring data show. From a $136M peak since November, its short size is down about $120M; it still holds about $8.6M with unrealized gains of $3.65M (850%) at an average entry of $111,500. The wallet has taken profit five times and placed orders near BTC prices of about $76,200, while funding-rate settlements since May 9 total about $10M, per the same source.

Bitcoin fell below $78,000 on Feb. 3, with its 24-hour gain narrowing to 0.87%, HTX market data show. The figures reflect pricing on the HTX platform at that time.

Bitcoin's move above $80,000 would trigger aggregated short liquidations of $786 million on major centralized exchanges, Coinglass data show as of February 3. If Bitcoin falls below $77,000, combined long liquidations on these platforms would reach $877 million. BlockBeats notes the liquidation heatmap indicates relative intensity of each liquidation cluster rather than exact contract numbers or notional values, with higher bars signaling stronger expected market reactions at those price levels.

Aggregate spot trading volumes on major cryptocurrency exchanges plummeted from approximately $2 trillion in October to $1 trillion by the end of January, marking a 2024 low, according to reports from CryptoQuant and BlockBeats. CryptoQuant attributed much of this decline to weakening spot demand since October and a significant liquidation event on October 10. This downturn saw Bitcoin trading roughly 37.5% below its October peak, with Binance's monthly BTC spot volume falling from $200 billion to $104 billion. Analysts also noted sustained stablecoin outflows and a $10 billion reduction in overall stablecoin market capitalization, further constraining liquidity. Concerns over a potentially more hawkish Federal Reserve outlook, particularly if Kevin Warsh assumes the chair, are also weighing on risk assets like crypto, though some foresee a rebound if ETF inflows resume or economic data shifts.

A wallet labeled "BTC OG insider whale" accumulated 806.47 BTC valued at $63.36 million over 11 hours on Feb. 3, receiving funds from B2C2 and Coinbase, on-chain analyst Ai (@ai_9684xtpa) reports. The address now holds 40,411 BTC worth $3.14 billion and 783,524.43 ETH valued at $1.07 billion, with BTC holdings exceeding ETH by more than three times. Combined on-chain assets have surpassed $4.95 billion.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded continuous net outflows since Jan. 19, with about 17,400 BTC sold via ETFs in the week of Jan. 19 and a further 9,540 BTC offloaded the following week after prices moved below the ETF cost basis, according to analyst @alicharts cited by BlockBeats on Feb. 3. The analyst argues the recent price rebound should be treated cautiously, suggesting that without fresh capital inflows the move could represent a corrective bounce rather than a full trend reversal. If selling pressure continues to build, @alicharts highlights the 200-week moving average, currently near $57,000, as the next key level to watch, noting it has historically acted as major macro support and could mark an area where long-term demand may recover. BlockBeats adds that, as of press time, U.S. crypto ETFs showed net inflows on the first trading day of this week, and the feared panic exit by ETF investors has not materialized.