Following its continued price decline in 2026, reports confirmed that Bitcoin (BTC) had officially entered its cyclical bear market phase. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has been trading sideways for months, with analysts predicting further volatility and price declines despite its recent drop below $65,000. Amid the downturn, market expert Crypto Patel has revealed the number of days left before Bitcoin officially reaches a price bottom.
Bitcoin Bottom May Be 253 Days Away
On February 21, Crypto Patel announced that Bitcoin’s real bottom could still be roughly 253 days away. Sharing a multi-cycle BTC Bull/Bear market chart on X, the analyst based his outlook on the depth and duration of previous bear market cycles.
Crypto Patel’s analysis begins with the historic 2018 BTC collapse. After peaking near $20,000 in late 2017, the price of Bitcoin fell 84.22% from its all-time high. The decline spanned 396 days, forming a long red zone on the chart, before the price finally stabilized and reversed near a rising macro trendline.
A similar pattern also occurred in the 2022 market cycle. After reaching a $69,000 peak in 2021, Bitcoin dropped by roughly 77.57%. That downturn lasted 395 days, almost identical in length to the 2018 bear market. This reinforces the analyst’s view that timing plays a critical role in determining when Bitcoin hits a bottom and its cycle resets.
The analyst’s multi-cycle chart also shows that both bear markets ended near an upward-sloping support line that guided BTC’s long-term structure. In each case, the market was dominated by extreme fear and panic as BTC’s price declined to new lows. Crypto Patel has highlighted these moments on the chart, suggesting that negative sentiment tends to peak just as the market approaches exhaustion.
BTC Projected To Crash 68% Before Recovering
Using the 84% and 77% crashes from 2018 and 2022 as reference points, Crypto Patel projects that Bitcoin’s current bear market could trigger a smaller but still significant correction. On the right side of the chart, the analyst shows that BTC has already reached a cycle top above $126,000.
The cryptocurrency has since pulled back from that peak and is trading slightly above $63,000 at the time of writing. Crypto Patel predicts that BTC could see another 68% decline, potentially lasting close to 395 days, matching the duration of the previous cycles’ bear market phases. If this bearish scenario unfolds, Bitcoin could hit a final market bottom around $40,000 from its all-time high.
Following this crash, Crypto Patel expects a price recovery before an explosive rally. He predicts that BTC could surge by approximately 609.96% from the bottom level to reach $303,758. The analyst has also identified the $38,000 level as a potential support or entry zone for investors.
