Bitcoin price steadies but fresh fears suggest slide to $52k

Brian McGleenon

Updated Thu 12 February 2026 at 7:12 pm GMT+9 2 min read

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Bitcoin edged higher in early trading on Thursday, steadying near $67,259 (£49,503) as investors weighed a stronger-than-expected US jobs report alongside lingering concerns about downside risks in the cryptocurrency market.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency (BTC-USD) is up roughly 1% over the past 24 hours, but remains down nearly 4.7% over the past week, reflecting continued caution among investors after this year’s sharp correction.

**Read more: **Crypto live prices

John Glover, chief investment officer at Ledn and former managing director at Barclays, warned that technical signals suggest further downside could be ahead.

“While I had been calling for bitcoin (BTC-USD) to trade lower, which has transpired, my target was $71,000, the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. We have now traded well through that support,” Glover told Yahoo Finance UK.

**Read more: **Stocks higher as GDP figures paint mixed picture of growth

He added that under Elliott Wave theory, a key structural rule has been challenged. “If we close below $67,000 on a weekly basis, my wave count comes into question. Should that occur, the next key support level sits around $52,000.”

Elliott Wave theory is a technical analysis framework that attempts to predict market trends by identifying recurring patterns, or “waves,” in price movements.

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This bearish scenario underscores broader questions about bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) resilience in 2026, with some analysts cautioning that structural weaknesses in the market could prevent the cryptocurrency from reaching fresh highs above $100,000 this year.

**Read more: **Bitcoin’s worst week amid ‘fear and fatigue’

Not all experts expect a sharp decline. QCP’s head of client coverage, Elbert Iswara, highlighted several near-term indicators for investors, pointing to the $60,000 to $65,000 range as a key psychological and technical zone, where thin liquidity could provide support and potentially trigger a short-term rally around $60,000. Thin liquidity means there are fewer buy and sell orders in the market, so prices can move more sharply in either direction.

Spot bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETF flows will also be crucial, as continued outflows or stabilisation could shape price action in today’s choppy conditions. There were net outflows of over $276m across all spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Wednesday, according to Farside Investors data.

**Read more: **Gold rally loses steam after strong US jobs data

Meanwhile, bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) performance has lagged behind equities, which are pointing to a modestly higher open on Wall Street on Thursday. Dow futures were up 116 points, S&P 500 futures added 18.75 points, and Nasdaq futures climbed 56.5 points.

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Wednesday’s stronger-than-expected US jobs report, showing 130,000 new positions in January and an unemployment rate of 4.3%, may have helped steady broader risk sentiment but did little to ease caution in crypto markets.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at roughly $2.38tn, up 0.8% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH-USD) and BNB (BNB-USD) have slightly outperformed bitcoin (BTC-USD), rising 1.4% and 2.5% respectively over the past day.

Read more:

**Stablecoins: A deep dive into what they are and the risks**

**What is a spot bitcoin ETF and why it has sparked a crypto rally?**

**Why the bitcoin trade 'is too large to ignore'**

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