Bitcoin’s market capitalization has fallen to roughly $1.46 trillion, pushing it below several major technology companies and commodities in global asset rankings.
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Gold remains the world’s most valuable asset at around $31 trillion, with Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Broadcom, Saudi Aramco, Tesla and Meta Platforms all ranking above Bitcoin.
This decline reflects increasing pressure on the cryptocurrency from multiple fronts – including rising inflation, geopolitical strife, and weak investor sentiment.
Ki Young Joo, CEO of cryptocurrency analytics firm CryptoQuant, now says a bear market may… Extending to early 2027. Its rating is based on an on-chain profitability model that tracks how long investors’ losses typically last once profit taking starts to taper off.
Once a series of profit taking occurs, the P&L for Bitcoin investors typically declines for about 18 months.
Since the trend turned in October 2025, the bear market could continue until early 2027.
The trend changes only when unrealized profits rise and realized profits fall. We’re not there yet. pic.twitter.com/fQyIRLu8vv
– Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) May 29, 2026
According to Joe, the decline in investor profits began in October 2025. He says the trend followed a roughly 18-month pattern seen in previous recessions, pointing to similar cycles in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
The bear market clock started in October 2025
The signal of the CryptoQuant PnL indicator — a chart that measures investor profitability using 365-day moving averages — shows the index declining after reaching its peak last year.
Joe posted the chart on X, noting that a recovery will only be confirmed when unrealized profits rise while realized profits fall. He said this transformation has not yet occurred.
Bitcoin was trading near $73,289 at the time of reporting, down slightly over the 24-hour period. CoinGlass data shows that total open interest in the derivatives market fell to approximately $55 billion, while liquidations during the same period amounted to approximately $224 million.
Long-term traders bear the brunt of the damage
Long positions bore the bulk of those losses. More than $30 million in bullish bets were wiped out in 24 hours, compared to about $17 million in short liquidations. Despite these numbers, the buy and sell ratio on major exchanges including Binance and OKX still tends to be high.
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Broader macroeconomic conditions are adding to the pressures. US PCE inflation rose to 3.8% year-on-year in April, and the odds of a Fed rate hike rose sharply in response.
Reports suggest that tensions between the US and Iran have also rattled global markets, with risk appetite across cryptocurrencies remaining weak.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
