Bitcoin slips as traders focus on $81,000 support: Asia Morning Briefing

Glassnode has highlighted bitcoin’s True Market Mean, currently near $81,300, as a key dividing line between gradual, time-based drawdowns and phases of more forceful loss realization. In the post-October market regime, that threshold has grown increasingly important.

Correlation data helps explain why the level matters beyond bitcoin alone. Over the past 90 days — particularly since the October 10 flash crash — large-cap crypto assets have remained tightly linked to bitcoin, reinforcing its role as the market’s central anchor.

As a result, a sustained move below the True Market Mean would likely have broader consequences than simply extending losses in already-weak tokens. Glassnode’s data shows that when bitcoin trades below this level for prolonged periods, selling pressure has historically spread more widely across the crypto market.

With large-cap assets still closely tracking bitcoin while higher-beta tokens have already seen significant drawdowns, a break below $81,300 risks pulling that weakness back into the market’s core. The focus, then, is less on calling an imminent breakdown and more on identifying where the market’s balance currently lies.

As long as bitcoin remains above the True Market Mean, losses can stay uneven and concentrated. But if $81,300 fails to hold and prices do not recover, Glassnode’s historical analysis suggests selling pressure would be more likely to move beyond the long tail of risk assets. In a post-October environment defined by thin liquidity and tight large-cap correlations, that would mark a shift from a slow, grinding drawdown toward a more synchronized market reset.

Market Movement

BTC: Bitcoin hovered near $86,400, little changed on the day and down about 1%, extending a weekly decline of roughly 6.5%.

ETH: Ether traded around $2,830, down about 3.6% over the past 24 hours and roughly 15% on the week, underperforming bitcoin as broader market weakness persisted.

Gold: Gold has climbed to record levels in 2025, with prices more than doubling over the past two years to above $4,300 an ounce. Central bank buying, geopolitical tensions, U.S. fiscal concerns and a broader investor base have led major banks to project prices nearing $5,000 in 2026.