Bitcoin 2026 price low is below $73k, but the analyst says it is normal.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a new 2026 low of $72,945 on Tuesday as bulls failed to hold the $80,000 level as support. Year-to-date, Bitcoin has traded at a 15% loss and is down 45% from its all-time high of $126,267, leading investors to fear that BTC's cyclical bull market has come to an end.

Rocky price action on US stock markets is said to be a sell-off driver across the crypto market. As of the end of Q4, 2025, investors have questioned whether the costs associated with building artificial intelligence infrastructure and high fundraising and valuations are sustainable.

Investors fear that product demand and earnings could fall short of industry forecasts, and that pessimism is reflected in Magnificent 7 stocks with the S&P 500, DOW and NASDAQ currently down 0.70% to 1.77%.

AI majors NVD and Microsoft lost 3.4% and 2.7% respectively on the trading day, while Amazon lost 2.67%. More than 100 S&P 500 companies are set to report earnings this week, so the current early-week volatility could simply be a manifestation of investor anxiety or a hint of what's to come after earnings data is released.

In the crypto market, liquidity of holdings is putting pressure on the pace of selling, with BTC longs seeing a forced close of $127.25 million and ETH long locked in liquidity at $159.1 million.

Related: Bitcoin, crypto ‘winter' will end soon, BitWise exec says $5K as gold

While many analysts say Bitcoin is trading at a steep discount, buying from retail investors and institutional investors like Strategist has done nothing to stem the selloff. According to Joe Burnett, Strive's vice president of Bitcoin strategy, BTC's current “price action is still within historical norms at $74,000.”

“Bitcoin's 45% decline is closely in line with historical volatility,” Burnett said, adding that “volatility of this magnitude is a sign of an asset that generates income quickly.”

If the sell-off continues, the current Bitcoin (BTC/USDT, Binance) order book data from TRDR.io shows bids increasing from $71,800 to $63,000. Whether traders move in to buy in that range is the real question, and perhaps non-crypto-specific macroeconomic and stock market-related effects will continue to influence Bitcoin's price.