If you’re a crypto investor, is this the time to panic?

The first month of 2026 felt very different from 2025. Last year, crypto investors were looking forward to what lay ahead. Trump’s election victory at the end of 2024 had given Bitcoin its first break through the mythical $100,000 barrier per coin, and much seemed to lay ahead.

But Trump’s many promises failed to materialize, and his strategic Bitcoin reserve didn’t really take off. Elon Musk focused less and less on crypto (and Dogecoin), resulting in significantly less social media push for digital currencies. As the year 2025 progressed, we did reach a new ATH in October, but it was already clear then that a decline was imminent.

By now, we’re down about 30-40% since that ATH, while most stock markets are still making new highs.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades for a price of $76,000.

Strategy

This past weekend, for the first time ever, Bitcoin briefly fell below the average price Michael Saylor’s Strategy paid for all their 700,000 or so Bitcoins they currently hold. This could prove costly, because if the largest digital currency continues to decline, investors will simply sell their Strategy shares, as the company can’t make a profit without a major strategy shift.

While FTX (the largest crypto trading platform in the United States in 2021) was the biggest victim of the 2022 cryptocurrency crash, it increasingly appears that Strategy will fall victim should a Bitcoin crash occur in 2026.

Panic

In conclusion, I think it’s still a bit too early to speak of panic. We’re still trading at a fairly high level, and there have been pullbacks of this nature in the past. Suppose Strategy’s stock collapses and their Bitcoins have to be sold to save the company, then a panic reaction could certainly follow. I expect the decline to continue, even into February. Personally, I don’t expect any improvement before we reach a price of $50,000-$60,000.