Bitcoin continues to struggle, falling again to a monthly low just above $74,000. The recent decline has prompted renewed concern among analysts, with some pointing to retail selling while larger holders step in with buy orders to absorb the pressure.
Bearish Market Structure Returns
After losing about $8,000 in little more than a week, several analysts have revised their outlooks. For example, Jelle warned that BTC has slipped below both the 100-day and 50-day moving averages, signaling a return to a bearish local market structure.
Earlier, the same analyst cautioned that a breach below these important levels could pave the way for a deeper correction, noting there is significant untapped liquidity beneath current prices that could be taken out.
On a more optimistic note, analyst CW suggested that bitcoin whales have been placing buy orders at current price levels to soak up retail selling. After removing sell orders at higher prices, these large holders are now absorbing selling volume from smaller investors, CW observed.
CryptoPotato outlined five reasons behind Bitcoin’s crash, which stalled near $75,000. Those reasons include selling from major investors and heightened geopolitical tensions—particularly rising uncertainty between the US and Iran. Recent reports from the conflict zone suggest a ceasefire could be ending soon, a development that historically pushes risk-on assets like BTC lower.
What BTC Needs to Do
Another widely followed analyst, Daan Crypto Trades, described the conditions needed for a recovery. The most critical threshold to reclaim is the low $80,000 area, where horizontal resistance aligns with the daily 200 moving average and EMA.
Daan explained that bulls must turn that level into a higher low and then break the resistance to signal a meaningful reversal. If they fail to do so, the bounce could simply form another lower high within a larger downtrend that has persisted since Bitcoin’s October 2025 all-time high.
$BTC It is still pretty straight forward from here looking at the chart.
Bitcoin needs to clear that low $80Ks region with the horizontal and Daily 200MA/EMA sitting right around the same region.
This is the first “bigger sell off” this leg up after the April move higher.… pic.twitter.com/01yL1CqatF
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) May 22, 2026