Bitcoin ended the year's second quarter down roughly 11% as ETF outflows, reduced buying by Strategy, and a contraction in the stablecoin market weakened simultaneously. The cryptocurrency, which currently sits near $60,000, is roughly 52% below its all-time high of $126,000 set in late 2025. The decline contrasts sharply with equity markets, as the S&P 500 ended the quarter up 16% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 28%.

Market Reversal and Performance

Crypto entered Q2 with momentum, with Bitcoin and Ethereum both climbing roughly 20% from early April as geopolitical anxiety eased and institutional demand improved. That recovery reversed as oil prices spiked with Brent crude hitting $126.41, the Federal Reserve turned more hawkish, and capital rotated into AI stocks. By the end of May, the divergence became clear, with Bitcoin falling around 10%, Ethereum dropping 20%, and Solana losing 13%.

Demand Channels Weaken

Coin Metrics identified three pillars that normally support Bitcoin's price, all of which cracked in Q2. Spot Bitcoin ETFs started strong with a single-day inflow peak of $474 million on April 20 but subsequently flipped to outflows. Outflows dominated the rest of the quarter with 53 outflow days against just 30 inflow days. June alone accounted for $3.84 billion of the quarter's total $4.08 billion in net outflows.

The buying pace of Strategy slowed materially as its stock price fell to a record low near $74, weakening the funding mechanism behind its accumulation. The sale of 32 BTC in early June prompted Strategy to launch its new Digital Credit Capital Framework with a $2.55 billion reserve and authorization to sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin. Additionally, the stablecoin market contracted by $4.2 billion across Q2. USDT grew modestly by $1.8 billion, while USDC shed $3.4 billion and Ethena's USDe fell $1.4 billion.

Q2 Financial and Market Metrics

Deleveraging and Market Depth

Combined Bitcoin and Ethereum long liquidations totaled $8.35 billion across Q2, with more than half occurring between May 25 and June 7 as overleveraged longs were flushed out. Bitcoin open interest fell 32% from its peak to $33.5 billion, while Ethereum open interest dropped 40% to $16.2 billion. Bitcoin's orderbook depth declined from nearly $70 million in early May to roughly $35 to $40 million by late June, leaving the market thinner and more sensitive to selling pressure heading into Q3. The one standout in the crypto market cap top 20 was Hyperliquid, with Hyperliquid Strategies Inc up 142% year-to-date on surging demand for on-chain perpetuals trading.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw a sharp decline in millionaire addresses during the first half of 2026, with the number of wallets holding at least $1 million falling by 26,653, or 18%. This drop came as BTC’s price declined from $88,700 on January 1, 2026, to $58,315 on June 30, 2026, a decrease of approximately 34.2%, according to Finbold’s H1 2026 Cryptocurrency Market Report.

The decline represents a sharp reversal from the same period in 2025, when Bitcoin added 26,758 millionaire addresses. In effect, Bitcoin erased almost the same number of millionaire addresses in the first half of 2026 as it gained during the first half of 2025.

Wealth Distribution Shifts

The largest decline occurred among addresses holding between $1 million and $10 million, which fell by 23,727, from 131,716 to 107,989. Meanwhile, addresses holding $10 million or more declined by 2,835, from 16,368 to 13,533.

Market Interpretation

Jordan Major, Chief Editor at Finbold, noted that the data shows how quickly Bitcoin’s on-chain wealth distribution can shift when prices fall. "This does not necessarily point to widespread selling, but rather a price-driven reclassification of wallets that were previously above the millionaire threshold," Major said.

Diana Paluteder, Head of Content at Finbold, emphasized that while the data is a useful market signal, it should be interpreted carefully. "A Bitcoin wallet does not always represent a single investor, and one entity can control multiple addresses," Paluteder said. "Still, the trend highlights how exposed mid-tier holders are to price volatility."

Finbold notes that Bitcoin address counts measure wallet balances rather than unique investors. A single individual, exchange, fund, or institution can control multiple Bitcoin wallet addresses, while one address can also represent pooled holdings.