Expert on Bitcoin's Future: No Crash, But Months of Pain Await

⚡
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Bitcoin’s recent rally stalled after a pullback from its highs.
A crypto analyst says a major crash is unlikely, but warns of months of sideways price action.
Bitcoin is hovering around a critical support, losing which would increase uncertainty.

The frenzy around Bitcoin’s recent rally to $94,000 has cooled after the top crypto coin corrected to $90,000. With the correction, traders are positioning to profit from further massive drops, but that may not be happening any time soon.

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju in an X post said although Bitcoin will not see a big crash as was seen in previous cycles, there will likely be a lot of sideways movements for months with the attendant pain of waiting for the next major upward movement.

Ju attributes the sideways movement to liquidity inflow drying up while whales holding for the long term ensures Bitcoin doesn’t see any serious crash either. If this plays out, it means a period of waiting that may wear many out before recovery.

Bitcoin Loses to Precious Metals

Bitcoin rallied significantly in the last few days, rising to $94,000 which was last visited in November. This raised the expectation of a surge to $100,000, which was cut short when the market began to retrace. Apparently, the huge sell orders on the way hindered the rise, causing the correction which is now worsening.

Ju believes that the proceeds from those sell orders have rotated back into stocks and precious metals like gold and silver which have been soaring since Q4 2025. This is contrary to the expectations for 2025, which many analysts believed would be great for Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market.

Capital inflows into Bitcoin have dried up.

Liquidity channels are more diverse now, so timing inflows is pointless. Institutions holding long-term killed the old whale-retail sell cycle. MSTR won't dump any significant chunk of their 673k BTC.

Money just rotated to stocks and… pic.twitter.com/Ha866TP857

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) January 8, 2026

Analysts have long speculated that the rally in precious metals would eventually circle back to crypto, which did not happen in 2025 and was then believed to be delayed till 2026. If Ju is right, it means there’s a complete deviation from what is normal, to an entirely new pattern which some experts highlighted last year.

Bitcoin Hovering Around Bear Territory

The correction in bitcoin has grown more intense and the asset is just hovering around the $90,000 level. This is a critical level that Bitcoin couldn’t break through last year until last week, and losing it could mean returning into a potential range.

Unless there’s a shift in momentum to favor the bulls soon, this may play out and the “boring” sideways movements Ju foresees may begin to happen instead.