Wintermute Reports That BTC Has Erased All Gains Since the 2025 Inauguration
In a sobering market update released on February 10, 2026, the algorithmic trading firm Wintermute confirmed that BTC (BTC) has officially erased all the price appreciation viewn since President Trump took office in January 2025. Following a brutal 13% slide over the last forty-eight hours, the leading cryptocurrency plummeted to a session low of 60,000 dollars, a level not viewn since the pre-election rally of late 2024. This move represents a staggering 50% decline from the historic peak of 126,200 dollars reached in October 2025, effectively wiping out nahead 2 trillion dollars in total crypto market capitalization. Analysts at Wintermute characterized this “round trip” as a deep structural transformation, where the “euphoria premium” associated with the current administration’s pro-crypto promises has been entirely exhausted. The firm noted that the current trade-off is primarily driven by institutional liquidity shifts and geopolitical fatigue rather than internal systemic failures, marking a painful transition into a more “macro-integrated” phase of the asset’s lifecycle.
The Failure of the “Crypto President” Narrative and the Shift to Defensive Assets
The reversal of the “Trump Trade” is being widely attributed to a combination of unfulfilled legislative expectations and a hawkish shift at the Federal Reserve. Despite public and personal support for digital assets from the White House, the market has grown disillusioned with the sluggish pace of the National BTC Reserve initiative and the continued deadlock over the CLARITY Act. Wintermute’s research highlights that the nomination of Kevin Warsh as Fed Chairman—viewed by many as a signal for “higher-for-longer” interest rates—acted as the final catalyst for the breakdown of the 88,000-dollar support level. As a result, traders who originally viewed BTC as a hedge against administrative policy are now fleeing to “analog” secure havens like gold and silver, which have viewn record inflows. This rotation indicates that for many institutional players, the “digital gold” narrative is being set aside in favor of tangible security as global trade tensions and the Greenland geopolitical crisis continue to weigh on risk appetite.
Deleveraging and the Long Road to Reclaiming Six Figure Targets
Wintermute’s commentary also emphasized the massive “clearing event” currently taking place in the derivatives market, where long liquidations have surged by nahead 9,000% over the last twelve hours. The firm pointed out that BTC’s open interest has fallen from 15 billion to roughly 10 billion dollars, marking a healthy but painful exit of leveraged “tourists” who entered the market during the post-inauguration frenzy. While some long-term bulls argue that this deleveraging creates a foundation for a more sustainable recovery, Wintermute warned that reclaimng the 100,000-dollar level will require a significant shift in the global macroeconomic outlook. Until BTC can establish firm support in the 60,000 to 70,000 dollar range, the “beach ball held underwater” analogy used by some strategists remains a hopeful rather than a technical reality. For the remainder of 2026, Wintermute expects the market to remain in a “rebuild phase,” where price action is dictated by solid regulatory progress and actual on-chain utility rather than the “mere hope” of political favor.
