As Bitcoin (BTC) struggles to maintain its position below the $90,000 threshold, market sentiment appears to be shifting toward the possibility of a new bear market. Notably, analyst Ali Martinez has drawn comparisons with historical market cycles to forecast Bitcoin’s trajectory. 

In a recent social media post, Martinez highlighted a recurring pattern that suggests it typically takes around 1,064 days for Bitcoin to transition from a market bottom to a market top, followed by approximately 364 days from a market peak back to the next bottom.

In the first cycle, the market bottomed out in January 2015 and reached its peak in December 2017, exactly 1,064 days later. This was followed by a bear market that lasted 364 days, culminating in the bottom in December 2018. 

The second cycle mirrored this pattern: the market bottomed in December 2018 and reached its apex in November 2021, again over a span of 1,064 days. Subsequently, another downturn followed, leading to a bottom in November 2022, when Bitcoin traded around $15,500.

Currently, the analyst highlights that the market is in what could be the third cycle, having witnessed a market bottom in November 2022 and a current peak above $126,000 reached back in October. 

Applying the historical patterns of these cycles, it suggests that Bitcoin is now within the 364-day correction window, indicating a potential bottom could materialize around October 2026 — approximately 288 days from now.

Examining past bear markets offers additional context for projecting potential downside. The bear market from 2017 to 2018 saw a correction of approximately 84%, while the market decline from 2021 to 2022 experienced a retracement of roughly 77%. 

Averaging these two corrections, Martinez suggests an expected retracement of around 80%, positioning Bitcoin’s next market bottom at around $37,500.

Currently, the market’s leading cryptocurrency is trading slightly above the $88,290 mark, which is a 30% gap from the current peak. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

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