Final warning! $BTC breaches the 80,000 support level, and seven veteran traders hold a late-night secret meeting: This bear market will either skyrocket or be irredeemable!

When the price of $BTC drops below $80,000, the market noise instantly falls silent. This is not a warning, but the reality staring us in the face in 2026. Prices are trending downward, liquidity is shrinking, and panic is flooding in like a tide. Surviving a bear market has never been about luck; it’s a prolonged battle of cognition, mindset, and strategy.

Market observers recently held a dialogue with seven seasoned participants, focusing on survival during a bear market.

Regarding memories of bear markets, Fishhhh mentioned that in 2022, the market was driven by the BSC Meme and NFT craze, ultimately getting trapped in NFTs. The most direct feeling of a bear market is community silence, with more and more “deleted accounts” in Telegram groups.

IOSG Ventures recalled that when $SOL fell to single digits, many KOLs only shouted “exit the scene,” offering no valuable judgments. They emphasized the importance of independent thinking and building a personal information flow, rather than accepting emotional, trash information.

GD vividly remembers the collapses of Three Arrows Capital, FTX, and the bank runs of the three largest US banks. These events made him realize that the crypto industry has no “too big to fail.” Although this round’s $25 billion liquidation was brutal, it has not yet caused a collapse of trust across the entire industry; more so, it’s a resonance of institutional deleveraging and macro hedging.

0xGrandpa has experienced several cycles, with the deepest impressions being long periods of torment and repeated disillusionment. The ICO boom in early 2018 abruptly ended, followed by ongoing hopes shattered and self-doubt. Sometimes, market confidence begins to recover from events like the April Fools’ joke in 2019.

Focus Blockchain believes that bear markets are a thorough filtering and sedimentation of the industry, stripping away hype bubbles and forcing practitioners to return to technological fundamentals and compliant development. BiyaNews observed that recently, $BTC once dropped below $74,500, a 10-month low, with market risk appetite clearly shrinking.

Regarding how to adjust, Fishhhh’s view is that preserving funds and staying at the table is most important. Bear markets are periods for learning and accumulation; there’s no need to watch the charts constantly—focus on work and life instead.

IOSG Ventures pointed out that all big returns come from bear markets. The primary market’s $Pendle surged after being unlocked during the bear, and in the secondary market, opportunities from $PEPE to $SOL to $BTC have never disappeared. Bear markets shouldn’t be an excuse to do nothing; rather, they are opportunities to accumulate and find undervalued assets.

GD’s advice is to survive, clear leverage, and return to normal routines. Keep learning. During market lows, technical narrative assets are actually good opportunities to pick up bargains. 0xGrandpa emphasizes that during bear markets, avoid leverage, reduce trading frequency, and focus on self-improvement and maintaining off-chain cash flow.

Focus Blockchain’s strategy is to strictly control risk in investments, deepen long-term tracks in work, and stay peaceful in life. Pickle Cat believes that a prepared bear market is full of opportunities. Mindset should shift from “who earns more” to “who survives longer.” In investing, execute dollar-cost averaging in strong consensus assets like $BTC, and minimize altcoin holdings. Exhausting your bullets in a bear market is a main reason most people get eliminated.

Regarding differences in this bear market, Fishhhh thinks that in the past, retail investors were trampled; now, with the ETF era, it’s institutional competition. The risk of “going to zero” is theoretically reduced. Cold market narratives around $BTC do not affect his buying decisions.

IOSG Ventures sees the biggest difference as the rationality of altcoins being severely impacted, leading to a major reshuffle in the market. He recommends broadening investment horizons and deploying from a macro perspective. $BTC has become a risk asset indicator, and its high volatility and leverage characteristics are causing backlash across the market.

GD does not believe this is a typical bear market. The biggest difference this time is that it’s not narrative collapse but a tech-driven reshaping. The cooling of the “digital gold” narrative for $BTC is actually a maturation process, shifting from “digital gold” to a “neutral store of value” pricing.

0xGrandpa believes each bull and bear cycle is fundamentally similar; as long as the endogenous nature of cryptocurrencies is not disproved, there’s no need to worry. The cooling of the “digital gold” narrative is temporary; at some point in the future, people will revisit it. Focus Blockchain points out that this cycle features institutionalization, macro linkage, and structural differentiation, with volatility logic more akin to traditional risk assets.

Pickle Cat sharply notes that $BTC’s sensitivity to macro factors is just a “mask” parasitic on the traditional system. The truth is, it remains a currency protocol that no sovereignty can fully control. He dislikes defining it as “digital gold,” as that dismisses its ultimate value of resisting systemic failure. The narratives discussed in the market are only as deep as one’s understanding.

Regarding macro policies’ impact on positions, Fishhhh says generally not much. Long-term investors should focus on the long-term value and adoption rate of assets, using dollar-cost averaging or phased buying strategies.

IOSG Ventures bluntly states macro policies seriously influence their positions; without macro learning, crypto investing can be very costly. GD believes the same, recommending spot or low-leverage strategies, treating macro risks as market regulators, and that technical implementation is the real foundation.

0xGrandpa thinks people tend to over-focus on short-term headlines and ignore high-probability events. What he knows is that US crypto-friendly policies are advancing, and institutional adoption is increasing. Focus Blockchain’s strategy is “macro hedging + dynamic rebalancing,” closely monitoring policy signals to adjust positions, but with project fundamentals and on-chain data as core screening criteria.

Pickle Cat’s answer is: macro volatility only affects “tactics,” not “strategy.” He manages short-term risk exposure with derivatives but remains immune to policy swings with his core spot and DCA strategies. The long-term devaluation of fiat is a structural fate; macro chaos only makes him more committed to holding spot, securing that “exit right.”

Regarding bottom-fishing points and strategies, Fishhhh refers to exchange buying behaviors, feeling that $75,000 is a key level. He recommends buying $BTC, $ETH, $SOL, $BNB, emphasizing no high leverage and setting clear stop-losses.

IOSG Ventures considers around $60,000 as the bottom. He is extremely bearish on most altcoins, with a strategy of 70% high-beta altcoins, 20% high-alpha altcoins, and 10% memecoins. Memecoins will always be part of speculative exposure.

GD believes now is an excellent bottom-fishing zone, leaning toward $ETH-related, privacy, and AI assets. 0xGrandpa has already partially bottomed, and the rest of his positions will either wait for a liquidity crisis to trigger a liquidation storm or wait on the right side until prices break above the 60-day moving average. He only buys $BTC and $ETH.

Focus Blockchain does not fixate on specific levels but uses a combination of ahr999 indicator, fear index, and on-chain data, employing a pyramid buying method to build positions gradually. The core targets are $BTC and $ETH, complemented by high-quality leaders like $SOL and $LINK.

BiyaNews does not recommend chasing precise bottoms but advocates for phased deployment, dollar-cost averaging, and long-term planning with risk management as a priority.

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