Bitcoin’s slide below $90,000 has thrown the entire crypto market into fear mode, erasing weekly gains for nearly every major altcoin.
Key Takeaways:
Traders across major cryptos are sitting on deep losses, signaling potential seller exhaustion.
Bitcoin’s realized loss margin has dropped to –16%, a level that has historically preceded rebounds.
On-chain data suggests the current downturn may be entering an accumulation zone rather than starting a new downtrend.
Prices look weak, sentiment looks worse — yet some on-chain analysts argue that this kind of bleak environment is exactly where recoveries tend to begin.
The Market Is Bleeding — Some Say That’s the Opportunity
Analytics platform Santiment isn’t focused on the price crash itself but rather on how much pain traders are holding. The firm notes that investors who bought BTC, ETH, ADA, LINK, and XRP over the last month are now sitting on heavy double-digit losses. Historically, Santiment says the moment when short-term buyers capitulate has often aligned with early accumulation by experienced investors.
A completely separate dataset from analyst Ali shows the same pattern through a different lens. His realized loss margin chart indicates that Bitcoin typically rebounds when the metric falls below –12%. It has now dropped to –16% — a level only reached during violent sell-offs that were later followed by strong upside movements.
Bitcoin $BTC usually rebounds when traders’ realized loss margin falls below -12%.
It’s now sitting at -16%. pic.twitter.com/o0biyQefi6
— Ali (@ali_charts) November 18, 2025
In short, on-chain losses are now extreme enough to trigger the same signal that preceded several notable reversals in the past.
Extreme Losses Have Split Assets Into Different “Pain Zones”
Instead of measuring how far coins have fallen from their highs, Santiment ranked them by the intensity of trader loss:
Cardano and Chainlink show the deepest levels of pain among recent buyers.
Ethereum sits in the middle but still under heavy stress.
Bitcoin and XRP show negative averages, but not as severe — levels historically linked to accumulation rather than panic.
This is not optimism — it’s capitulation metrics.
Neither analyst is calling the bottom. What they are emphasizing is pattern recognition: When most traders are in profit, the market cools off. When most traders are deeply underwater, sellers eventually run low on supply.
Today’s data places the market firmly in the second scenario.
