A viral post from analyst Gordon on X is making the rounds again for one simple reason: it captures the emotional pattern that shows up at nearly every major Bitcoin bottom. The real low never feels like an opportunity. It feels like the beginning of something worse. That’s what makes bottoms so hard to buy in real time, even though they look obvious in hindsight.
Gordon points to the same psychological cycle Bitcoin has repeated for more than a decade. In March 2020, the world was shutting down and the dominant narrative was that BTC was headed to $1,000. Instead, that panic marked the bottom near $3,800 before an 18x run. In November 2022, after FTX collapsed and “crypto is finished” was everywhere, Bitcoin bottomed around $15,500 and eventually pushed toward new highs again. Now, in February 2026, the market is once again flooded with calls for much lower prices, which is exactly the kind of environment where major turning points tend to form.
Of course, sentiment alone doesn’t move markets. What matters is whether the underlying conditions support the idea that a base is forming. And right now, several factors suggest this downturn may be more than just random weakness.
Institutional Accumulation Is Rising Despite the Panic
One of the biggest signals is institutional and whale accumulation, which has quietly reached cycle highs despite the price pressure. Binance completed converting its $1 billion SAFU fund into Bitcoin on February 12, a move reported by Cryptobriefing. At the same time, CryptoQuant data shows a record inflow of 66,940 BTC into accumulator addresses on February 6th; the largest single-day inflow of this cycle.
Source: X/@cryptoquant_com
That kind of buying matters because it isn’t driven by hype or short-term trading. These are entities absorbing supply from panicked sellers, reducing the amount of Bitcoin available on exchanges. Historically, aggressive accumulation phases like this have often preceded sustained recoveries, because they create a stronger base of support beneath the market.
Macro and Structural Risks Still Shape the Next Move
The second major force shaping Bitcoin right now is macro sensitivity. BTC remains tightly linked to U.S. inflation expectations and Federal Reserve policy signals. Strong January jobs data reduced near-term rate cut expectations, which capped upside momentum and kept risk assets under pressure. The market is now watching the next CPI report closely for direction.
A hotter-than-expected inflation print could reinforce “higher-for-longer” rate fears and trigger another risk-off wave across crypto. On the other hand, a cooler CPI reading could revive liquidity expectations and flip sentiment quickly. This is why the current environment feels so unstable — Bitcoin is trading like an event-driven macro asset, not just a standalone crypto story.
There’s also a longer-term risk that has started entering more serious conversations: Bitcoin’s future security roadmap in a world where quantum computing eventually becomes real. Developers are already planning a multi-year migration toward post-quantum cryptography, with formal proposals discussing phased transitions. This is not an immediate threat, but markets tend to price uncertainty early, and the topic adds another layer of caution in the background.
Still, Gordon’s broader point holds: the bottom is never obvious when it arrives. It feels like despair, not relief. The market doesn’t ring a bell when the selling is done. It simply stops falling when the last weak hands are gone and stronger buyers step in quietly.
Bitcoin may still see more volatility ahead, especially with macro data driving short-term swings. But when fear is loud, accumulation is rising, and narratives are overwhelmingly bearish, history shows that the market is often closer to the end of the downturn than the beginning.
That’s why moments like this are so uncomfortable, and why they are often where the next major move begins.
Read also: Bitcoin and Crypto Could Fall Further as Donald Trump’s New Actions Rattle Global Markets
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The post This Is Exactly What Every Bitcoin Bottom Looks Like Before the Next Explosion appeared first on CaptainAltcoin.
