Bitcoin Mimics The 2018 Market Low: The Final $60k Liquidity Purge

The current BTC bottoming structure suggests a sophisticated reconfiguration of market liquidity and investor patience.

The $60,000 Bitcoin Liquidity Purge: An Echo of 2018, But With a Modern Twist

🐻 Bitcoin hovers at $65,100 today, a 48% plunge from its October 2025 peak of $126,080. For most, this decline screams capitulation. Yet, a deep dive into the charts, particularly a comparison to 2018's prolonged bear market, suggests the real structural pain—and the potential for a generational opportunity—lies just under the psychological $60,000 level.

💧 This isn't random panic; it's a disciplined unwind into weakness, mirroring patterns that precede significant market bottoms. The question for seasoned investors isn't if Bitcoin will test lower, but how this final liquidity sweep plays out, and what it implies for the market's long-term health.

The $60k liquidity purge serves as a structural reset before BTC targets its next institutional milestone.

BTC Price Trend Last 7 Days

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📌 The Anatomy of a Bear Market Bottom 2018 Revisited

The current Bitcoin price action is drawing uncomfortable parallels to the long, grinding bear market of 2018. Back then, after the exuberance of the 2017 bull run, Bitcoin entered a protracted descending pattern, characterized by successively lower highs and a relentless bleed. This wasn't a sharp, V-shaped recovery, but a slow, agonizing process that tested the conviction of every holder.

💧 The market in 2018 eventually found its bottom after a final, decisive move that swept liquidity below established support levels. It was a prolonged period of "extreme fear" that ultimately paved the way for the 2019 recovery. Today, Bitcoin's price has been trading below a similar falling resistance structure, reminiscent of that late-2018 environment.

The analyst Osemka highlights this drawing resemblance, pointing to a descending pattern with a falling trendline connecting recent lower highs. This structural similarity is critical, as it suggests the market is not experiencing a swift, sharp correction like 2022, but rather a more drawn-out, exhaustive process.

📌 Market Impact Analysis The 60K Test

The immediate market impact is a palpable sense of unease. Bitcoin is now only a 7.8% correction away from breaking below $60,000. This level isn't just a round number; it's identified as a potential target for a liquidity sweep, where significant resting sell-side orders could reside.

Searching for support near $60k represents a mechanical cleansing of overleveraged positions within the BTC ecosystem.

If Bitcoin follows the 2018 playbook, this drop below $60,000 would not necessarily signal the end of the world. Instead, it would serve to "purge" overleveraged positions and weak hands, effectively absorbing latent selling pressure before a potential stabilization and reversal. The market is already exhibiting signs of this pressure, with the fear and greed index at an "extreme fear" level of 11.

Furthermore, persistent outflows from US Spot Bitcoin ETFs—now totaling five straight weeks of net withdrawals—underscore institutional hesitancy or active de-risking. This sustained selling from institutional vehicles is a stark difference from previous cycles and indicates a shift in market dynamics where traditional finance players are now a significant force.

In the short term, expect increased volatility around the $60,000 mark. A decisive break below and a swift reclaim would lend credence to the liquidity sweep thesis. A prolonged stay below this level, however, could signal a deeper consolidation or even a re-evaluation of the bullish narrative.

🚩 Stakeholder Analysis & Historical Parallel The 2018 Capitulation

💥 The most similar historical event to today's market dynamics is the late 2018 Bitcoin Capitulation, specifically from November to December 2018. Bitcoin, after peaking near $20,000 in December 2017, spent much of 2018 in a steady decline. The final, brutal leg down occurred in November 2018, when BTC crashed from around $6,000 to lows of approximately $3,200 in a very short period.

This period was marked by what many analysts termed a "liquidity vacuum" and a final flush of retail investors. The outcome was a multi-month period of accumulation at extremely low prices, followed by a strong recovery in 2019. The lesson learned was that true market bottoms are often formed not with a bang, but with a whimper—a drawn-out period of pain culminating in a swift, severe capitulation event that clears the decks.

Investor sentiment of extreme fear acts as the psychological anchor preceding a significant BTC trend reversal.

In my view, this appears to be a calculated and structural unwinding. Unlike 2018, where the market was largely retail-driven and less intertwined with traditional finance, today's landscape includes significant institutional players via Spot ETFs. This changes the nature of capitulation. It's less about individual retail panic and more about systematic de-risking and fund outflows. The sheer volume of assets under management now means that any "liquidity purge" is exponentially larger and more significant than in 2018. While the pattern of falling resistance and a liquidity sweep might echo the past, the mechanisms behind it are profoundly different, suggesting that recovery might also be influenced by larger, slower-moving entities.

Stakeholder	Position/Key Detail
Osemka (Crypto Analyst)	🔴 Bitcoin's current setup resembles 2018 bear market bottom; predicts liquidity sweep below $60,000.
🏢 Institutional Investors (via US Spot Bitcoin ETFs)	Record 5 straight weeks of net withdrawals, reflecting de-risking or lack of buying conviction.
👥 Retail Investors	Sentiment at "extreme fear" (index 11), potentially vulnerable to further shakeouts.

📍 Future Outlook Beyond the Purge

If the anticipated liquidity sweep below $60,000 unfolds as modeled, it could mark the final structural reset before a more sustained accumulation phase. The formation of a "3D bullish divergence"—where Bitcoin prints lower lows while momentum indicators show higher lows—is a classic reversal signal that would complement a capitulation event.

The regulatory environment, though not directly mentioned in the short-term price analysis, remains a critical background factor. Increasing clarity, even if restrictive, could provide a floor for institutional confidence after the initial volatility subsides. However, without a clear narrative shift or significant catalyst, sustained price appreciation will require a fundamental change in institutional sentiment, moving from de-risking to active accumulation.

For investors, the opportunity lies in discerning whether this is indeed the final shakeout or merely another leg down in a more prolonged correction. The pattern suggests a bottom is forming, but timing it perfectly is a fool's errand. The market often forces the highest conviction players to buy at moments of maximum despair, and this $60,000 test could be that moment.

📌 Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin's current price action around $65,100 closely mirrors the prolonged descending pattern and liquidity hunt observed in the 2018 bear market bottom.
• A potential liquidity sweep below $60,000 is predicted as the final stage of this pattern, which would purge weak hands and absorb sell-side liquidity.
• Institutional sentiment, evidenced by five straight weeks of net outflows from US Spot Bitcoin ETFs, indicates significant de-risking, making this market bottom fundamentally different from 2018.
• The formation of a 3D bullish divergence on multiple timeframes is a key technical signal that could confirm a bottom once the liquidity sweep is complete.

🔮 Thoughts & Predictions

The comparison to 2018 isn't just historical trivia; it outlines a potential structural pathway for Bitcoin's price. If the $60,000 liquidity sweep plays out, this could be the market's brutal, yet necessary, reset, clearing the path for an accumulation phase that only the patient will capture.

Comparing the 2018 cycle to current price action reveals a recurring structural DNA in BTC macro lows.

However, the crucial distinction lies in the institutional footprint. Unlike 2018's largely retail-driven capitulation, today's market is governed by ETF flows. A sustained recovery will hinge less on retail FOMO and more on a measured, strategic return of institutional capital, which typically moves slower but with greater conviction once it commits.

💪 I expect a volatile period around the $60,000 threshold. A quick reclaim after a dip suggests the purge is effective. But a prolonged inability to regain this psychological level, especially amid continued ETF outflows, would signal deeper structural issues or a longer "winter" than the 2018 parallel might superficially suggest, challenging the bullish divergence narrative in the short-to-medium term.

🎯 Investor Action Tips

• Monitor the $60,000 price level: A swift dip below, followed by a rapid reclaim, would strongly confirm the "liquidity sweep" thesis outlined by analyst Osemka. Sustained price action below this level, however, warrants a re-evaluation of immediate bullish prospects.
• Watch institutional flows: A reversal in the five straight weeks of net outflows from US Spot Bitcoin ETFs is a critical signal for institutional buying conviction and potential market stabilization.
• Confirm bullish divergence: Validate the "3D bullish divergence" across multiple momentum indicators. This technical confirmation, alongside a liquidity sweep, is essential for a high-conviction bottoming pattern.

📘 Glossary for Serious Investors

🌊 Liquidity Sweep: A market event where price briefly moves below a significant support level or above a resistance level, triggering stop-loss orders or absorbing resting limit orders, before reversing direction. It "sweeps" available liquidity in the order book.

📈 Bullish Divergence: A technical analysis signal where the price of an asset makes a lower low, but a momentum oscillator (like RSI or MACD) makes a higher low. This indicates weakening bearish momentum and potential for a trend reversal upwards.

🧭 The Question Nobody's Asking

If the market has indeed adopted a 2018-style "liquidity purge" below $60,000, are we merely buying the next cycle's narrative, or is the increasing institutionalization of Bitcoin inherently changing the nature of its "bottoms" into something far more predictable and, perhaps, less volatile than the retail-driven chaos of yesteryear?

📈 BITCOIN Market Trend Last 7 Days

Date	Price (USD)	7D Change
2/19/2026	$66,456.35	+0.00%
2/20/2026	$66,918.68	+0.70%
2/21/2026	$67,970.29	+2.28%
2/22/2026	$67,977.91	+2.29%
2/23/2026	$67,585.12	+1.70%
2/24/2026	$64,577.55	-2.83%
2/25/2026	$64,074.11	-3.58%
2/26/2026	$67,520.17	+1.60%

Data provided by CoinGecko Integration.

💬 Investment Wisdom

"In a bear market, assets return to their rightful owners through the grueling process of exhaustion."
— — coin24.news Editorial

Crypto Market Pulse

February 25, 2026, 16:10 UTC

Total Market Cap

$2.40 T ▲ 4.96% (24h)

Bitcoin Dominance (BTC)

56.10%

Ethereum Dominance (ETH)

10.11%

Total 24h Volume

$112.86 B

Data from CoinGecko

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