Bitwise Invest CIO Matt Hougan Lists Reasons for BTC Price Decline

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-02-27Last updated on 2026-02-27

Abstract

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Invest, has identified the recent decline in Bitcoin's price as being driven by long-term holders selling their exposure. This selling occurred through spot market sales, unwinding leveraged positions, or by writing call options against their holdings. Hougan suggests this activity may be part of Bitcoin's typical four-year cycle or a shift of capital into AI startups. Despite the downturn, he expresses optimism that the majority of the selling is over and that Bitcoin may be bottoming, setting the stage for new future highs. His positive outlook aligns with recent comments from Michael Saylor, who called the price dip a buying opportunity, and Eric Trump, who highlighted his company's substantial Bitcoin accumulation. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $67,345.78, inching closer to the $69,000 mark amid bearish market sentiment and high volatility.

Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise Invest, has listed out a reason for the decline in BTC price. He has also expressed optimism about the upcoming bull run. Michael Saylor and Eric Trump earlier expressed these positive sentiments towards the flagship cryptocurrency. This comes at a time when bitcoins have reclaimed a value closer to $69k.

Bitwise Invest CIO Matt Hougan on BTC Price’s Decline

Matt Hougan has published a post on X to share the real reason behind the decline in BTC price. He has said that the token price is down because people who were long Bitcoin sold their exposure via spot, unwinding leveraged positions, or by writing calls against the holdings.

Bitwise Invest CIO has acknowledged that the selling phase may have come as a part of the 4-year cycle, or because they want to invest in AI startups. Matt has not ruled out the possibility that there could be more reasons behind selling Bitcoin tokens.

He has expressed his optimism by saying that the selling is mostly done and BTC could be in the process of bottoming – setting the ground for new highs in the future.

Alignment with Earlier Support

Matt’s optimism aligns with earlier comments from Strategy Founder Michael Saylor and American Bitcoin advocate Eric Trump. Michael recently called this BTC dip an opportunity to buy by posting on X that bitcoin was on sale. His post was countered by Schiff Gold Chairman Peter Schiff, which said that it was a going out of business sale.

Eric Trump wrote a long X post to confirm that American Bitcoin increased token holding. He mentioned that the team accumulated more than 6,235 BTC in 6 months since going public on the Nasdaq. Calling the company’s future unlimited, Eric highlighted that its revenue was up by 159% on a year-on-year basis.

BTC Price

BTC is trading at $67,345.78 when the article is being drafted. That reflects a weekly decline of 1.20% and a daily low of 1.81%. Nevertheless, the token seems to be inching closer to the $69k mark, which could eventually push it closer to the yearly estimated high of $94k.

Bitcoin tokens are experiencing bearish sentiments with an FGI of 13 points and a high volatility of around 9.08%. The 50-Day SMA and the 200-Day SMA stand at $79,499 and $98,192, respectively.

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