Bitcoin fell below $62,000 in early June 2026, and much of the market quickly blamed Michael Saylor. The trigger was Strategy’s disclosure on June 1 that it had sold 32 BTC, its first Bitcoin sale since 2022. But the explanation gained traction faster than the evidence behind it.
Jim Ferraioli, director of digital currencies research and strategy at Charles Schwab, told CoinDesk that the selloff had almost nothing to do with Saylor. In his view, the bigger problem is that Bitcoin is no longer the market’s dominant momentum trade.
A 32 BTC sale does not fit the scale of the move
Strategy’s transaction was worth about $2.5 million. The company still holds more than 843,000 BTC, while global spot Bitcoin trading runs into tens of billions of dollars each day. Against that backdrop, a $2.5 million sale is too small to convincingly explain a decline that stretched across several sessions, much less the reported $1.8 billion liquidation cascade and a price drop of more than $10,000.
The sale may have mattered as a sentiment shock. Strategy had long been associated with a near-never-sell stance, so even a small disposal carried symbolic weight. Still, a symbolic event is not the same thing as a structural market driver.
The downtrend started months before June
The timeline weakens the Saylor narrative even more. Ferraioli’s view is that Bitcoin has been in a bear market since October 2025. The asset peaked near $126,000 that month, then trended lower for months, hit a low in early February 2026, recovered partly, and resumed its slide into June.
That means the market had already been weakening for roughly eight months before Strategy sold 32 coins. A one-day sale at the tail end of a long decline is hard to frame as the root cause of the whole move.
The bigger issue is fading momentum
The article’s main argument is that speculative capital has rotated away from Bitcoin. Ferraioli says crypto markets are driven more by momentum than by fundamentals. In earlier cycles, Bitcoin attracted capital because it was where traders chased the fastest gains, and that flow fed on itself.
In 2026, other narratives are pulling that money away. The report points to gold, AI-related stocks, and a record IPO wave. It also notes that SpaceX is reportedly heading toward an IPO valuation of about $1.8 trillion, while a broader set of offerings could raise more than $200 billion. For momentum traders, those trades look more attractive than an asset that has been grinding lower since October.
Strong headlines have not translated into price strength
This framework also helps explain why favorable Bitcoin news has not lifted the market. Spot ETFs are established and hold tens of billions of dollars in assets. Regulatory clarity is improving in Washington. Large financial firms continue to build crypto products. Yet Bitcoin has still been sliding.
Ferraioli’s point is simple: better fundamentals do not guarantee higher prices if investor attention is somewhere else. The article also says seasonality is adding pressure, with summer often being one of Bitcoin’s weaker periods as trading activity thins.
Why the market may be watching the wrong signal
If one seller were the core problem, the damage would likely fade once that supply was absorbed. If the real issue is a loss of momentum to gold, AI, and IPO speculation, the path back is much less direct. That is why focusing on Strategy’s disclosures may say little about where Bitcoin goes next.
By this reading, Saylor is a convenient scapegoat. The broader decline began in October 2025, long before the June 1 sale of 32 BTC, and the pressure on Bitcoin is tied more to capital rotation than to one small disposal.