A chart shared by analyst Chiefy is making the rounds on crypto Twitter, and it’s not hard to see why. His take is simple, but uncomfortable: if Bitcoin’s historical 4-year cycle is still intact, the next major move could be a sharp drop toward $40,000 as early as January.

That’s not a small pullback. From current levels around $87,000, it would mean a decline of more than 50%. And that’s exactly why the prediction is unsettling so many traders.

Chiefy’s chart looks back at every major Bitcoin cycle since 2012. In each one, the Bitcoin price topped out, then went through a brutal post-peak correction lasting roughly 1,400 to 1,450 days before the next major low formed. Those drawdowns weren’t mild. In past cycles, Bitcoin fell between 78% and 87% from its highs before finally stabilizing.

The visual comparison is what grabs attention. The current cycle, when mapped against the previous ones, lines up closely with 2021 in terms of timing. If that rhythm repeats, the market could still be ahead of its real capitulation phase.

That’s where the $40,000 level comes from. It isn’t a random number. It sits in a zone that would represent a deep but historically consistent correction if Bitcoin were to fully follow its past cycle behavior.

To put this into context, Bitcoin already had a rough end to 2025. After peaking near $126,000, the BTC price slid to around $87,000, a drop of roughly 30%. That move alone shook confidence and flushed out a lot of late leverage. But even that decline looks relatively modest compared to what past bear markets delivered.

For Bitcoin to reach $40,000, the market would need to enter a much heavier risk-off phase than what we’ve seen so far. Not just a continuation of chop or slow bleeding, but a full shift into a deep bear environment. That would likely require multiple pressures hitting at once: tightening liquidity, a sharp reversal in risk assets, aggressive deleveraging in crypto derivatives, and a broader loss of confidence across altcoins.

In other words, this wouldn’t happen quietly.

It’s also worth noting that cycles don’t have to repeat perfectly. Bitcoin is no longer the same market it was in 2013 or 2017. ETFs exist. Institutional exposure is higher. Liquidity sources are different. Those factors could soften the downside, delay it, or even break the pattern entirely.

Still, the reason this prediction is making traders nervous is simple. It reminds the market that Bitcoin’s biggest drawdowns historically came after people thought the worst was already over. And if that pattern were to repeat, a 30% dip wouldn’t be the end of the story, it would just be the early warning.

Whether $40,000 actually comes or not, Chiefy’s message cuts through the noise. If Bitcoin truly enters a full bear phase and his BTC price prediction proves to be correct, it would look far uglier than the pullbacks we’ve seen in recent months. And most traders, after years of conditioning to buy every dip, may not be emotionally prepared for that kind of move.

That’s the part people “aren’t ready” for.

Read also: Here’s How Much 5,000 XRP Could Be Worth If It Becomes Half as Big as Bitcoin

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for daily crypto updates, market insights, and expert analysis.

The post This Bitcoin Price Prediction Is Making Traders Nervous: as Analyst Warns “People Aren’t Ready” appeared first on CaptainAltcoin.

86 +