Bitcoin Price Recovery and Market Analysis

Bitcoin’s price recovered by 101% to trade at $94,003 on March 2, climbing out of the technical bear market, according to CryptoSlate data. Altcoins have also recorded massive gains on Sunday, with XRP up over 37% to $2.94108 over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH) climbed over 13% to $2,504.08 over the past 24 hours while Solana bagged gains of more than 23%.

February Dip Pushed Bitcoin into Technical Bear Market

February was the worst month for Bitcoin (BTC) since June 2022. The price of the largest cryptocurrency fell by over 17% last month, from over $101,000 to around $84,350, according to CryptoSlate data.

The price of Bitcoin dipped as low as $78,867 on Feb 28. This was Bitcoin’s biggest monthly dip since June 2022, when BTC price fell by around 40% amid a string of crypto company bankruptcies in the aftermath of the Terra-LUNA collapse.

February’s price fall also pushed Bitcoin into a technical bear market (when the price of an asset declines by over 20%). Earlier today, BTC price was down by over 21% from its all-time high of $109,021.48 set on Jan. 20, coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

While cryptocurrency had a strong start to the month, the Bitcoin fear and greed index still points to fear, indicating that the market enthusiasm triggered by Trump’s presidential election win in November 2024 has faded.

Why Bitcoin Saw the Worst Month Since June 2022?

Throughout his re-election campaign, Trump made bold promises to the crypto community, including making the U.S. a Bitcoin mining superpower, adding to the country’s BTC stockpile, creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and replacing anti-crypto leadership. He gained the backing of major crypto companies and CEOs who donated heavily to his campaign.

However, market sentiments have tempered since then. Bitcoin’s price decline in February is linked to volatility in the larger financial markets amid fears of a trade war. Stocks on Wall Street have tumbled, and the U.S. dollar weakened. Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, unsettling investors and prompting them to move away from riskier assets.

As the crypto community anxiously awaits a clear regulatory framework from the Trump administration, experts noted that without firm moves from Trump, nervousness could continue. Gabe Selby from CF Benchmarks mentioned that the initial excitement surrounding Trump’s pro-crypto stance seemed to be recalibrating.

Additionally, Matt Simpson from City Index pointed out that inflationary pressures are increasing while growth prospects are dimming. Bitcoin traders remain unsatisfied as they feel Trump is preoccupied with “anything except deregulating crypto.” The hack of Bybit, resulting in a loss of around $1.5 billion worth of assets, further hurt industry sentiment.

Most of Trump’s Promises to Crypto Are Yet to Be Fulfilled

Trump has partially fulfilled his promises to the crypto community by nominating crypto-friendly individuals to lead federal agencies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently, the SEC announced the withdrawal of its enforcement action against Coinbase, a significant relief for the crypto exchange.

However, many issues remain unaddressed. Custodia Bank CEO Caitlyn Long remarked that no substantial changes have occurred regarding the crypto debanking issue, despite a perceived loosening.

Despite the current decline and market sentiment, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick remains optimistic, believing Bitcoin could still reach $500,000 before the end of Trump’s second administration. As of Mar. 2, 2025, Bitcoin is ranked #1 by market cap, up 9.91% over the past 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion and a 24-hour trading volume of $59.32 billion.