Bitcoin (BTC) price continued to decline, staying below crucial support levels amidst concerns over US interest rates after the Federal Reserve meeting. This downtrend marks Bitcoin’s entry into the bear market from its record highs in March. 

Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) shows a slight increase of 0.34%, trading at $57,562.68. Bitcoin breached the crucial $60,000 support level earlier this week, marking a 22% decrease from its all-time high of $73,740 in early March. 

As Bitcoin (BTC) falls by 20% from its recent peak, it only indicates that BTC has entered the bear market territory, which is challenging for Bitcoin and the crypto market. At this stage, Bitcoin is still struggling to gain price momentum, remaining within the trading range of $60,000 to $70,000 for over a month. 

However, Bitcoin broke below this range during the current week due to various factors, primarily driven by increasing certainty that US interest rates will remain elevated for an extended period. Despite an overnight decline in the dollar, Bitcoin failed to capitalize on this development, as the Federal Reserve affirmed its stance of no immediate plans for further interest rate hikes. 

Meanwhile, data indicates that the price movement of Bitcoin (BTC) has unnerved ETF investors, yet indications are suggesting that Bitcoin is undergoing a generally healthy correction. 

In a thread posted on X, Checkmate, the primary on-chain analyst at Glassnode, unveiled a significant shift in the Bitcoin bull market. 

As demonstrated by Checkmate, there has been a process of “de-leveraging” occurring across Bitcoin futures since its most recent peak in mid-March. He stated that this trend signals the end of “bull market excess.”

Checkmate recalls the 2021 Bitcoin bull market as the significant deleveraging events were driven by derivatives that dampened the market. In this scenario, Checkmate doesn’t see a similar derivatives-led sell-off.