Bitcoin kicked off the week with renewed downside momentum, dropping 5% in the past 24 hours to trade around $64,700. The weakness comes as broader risk assets soften — U.S. equity futures are lower, with Nasdaq 100 contracts off 0.9% — while safe-haven assets climb. Gold is up 2% and silver has surged 5.6%.

The decline follows a weekend pullback from the $67,000 area and coincides with on-chain signals from Glassnode and CryptoQuant indicating that while forced selling has cooled, the market remains structurally fragile.

Capitulation slows, but pressure lingers

Glassnode data shows short-term holders absorbed significant losses earlier this month. A seven-day smoothed metric tracking their net realized profit and loss fell to negative $1.24 billion per day on Feb. 6, suggesting newer investors were collectively locking in more than $1 billion in daily losses.

That pace has since moderated to roughly negative $480 million per day. While this indicates the most intense phase of panic has eased, short-term holders continue to sell at a net loss — a pattern more consistent with a bottoming process than a renewed uptrend.

Large players dominate exchange supply

CryptoQuant’s exchange flow data reflects a similar cooling in immediate liquidation. During the early-February drop toward $60,000, bitcoin inflows to exchanges jumped to roughly 60,000 BTC per day. On a seven-day smoothed basis, that figure has since declined to about 23,000 BTC.

However, the makeup of sellers has shifted markedly. CryptoQuant’s exchange whale ratio has risen to 0.64, its highest reading since 2015. Nearly two-thirds of bitcoin sent to exchanges now comes from the 10 largest daily deposits, signaling that whales are responsible for most of the current supply hitting trading platforms.

The average deposit size has also climbed to levels last seen in mid-2022, reinforcing the view that larger holders — not retail traders — are driving exchange activity.

Altcoins show signs of wider distribution as well. Average daily altcoin deposits to exchanges have increased to around 49,000 so far in 2026, up from roughly 40,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025. Elevated altcoin inflows have historically coincided with heightened volatility and weaker overall risk appetite.

Stablecoin flows shrink

Liquidity indicators are also deteriorating. Net USDT inflows to exchanges have fallen sharply from a one-year high of $616 million in November to just $27 million, briefly turning negative in late January. Because stablecoin inflows typically expand during bullish phases, their contraction points to reduced marginal buying power.

Combined, the data from Glassnode and CryptoQuant suggests the market has weathered a capitulation event but has yet to rebuild strong demand. As trading unfolds this week, the key focus is whether $65,000 can hold as a near-term support level — or whether bitcoin remains locked in a prolonged base-building phase.