Bitcoin’s inability to reclaim $90,000 exposes a deep structural fracture that could trap investors during the next unwind

Key Highlights

• 20, 2025 at 12:14 pm UTC Share Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate.
• Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
• Bitcoin’s inability to reclaim $90,000 is looking less like a debate about narratives and more like a test of market plumbing. For the better part of 2025, the surface story was institutional momentum.
• The US moved toward a workable regulatory perimeter, capped by President Donald Trump signing the GENIUS Act to federalize payment stablecoins. At the same time, spot Bitcoin ETFs normalized exposure within brokerage channels, and the broader crypto economy traded as if it had finally graduated into the asset-class mainstream. This resulted in a rally that drove Bitcoin to a new all-time high of $126,223 in early October. However, by Oct.
• 10, the microstructure deteriorated as a violent unwind erased roughly $20 billion in leveraged positions across crypto venues.