Chris Burniske, cofounder of Placeholder VC and former crypto lead at Ark Invest, is mapping out where he would consider stepping back into Bitcoin if the market keeps sliding, after earning fresh credit on X for calling major turning points this cycle. His framework lands in the mid-$80,000s down to the low-$50,000s, while a separate technical view from analyst Aksel Kibar points to a broader “base building” process with support clustered in the mid-$70,000s.
Price Levels Where To Buy Bitcoin
Burniske wrote that he is “not a buyer yet,” but outlined several price areas he’s monitoring. In his view, roughly $80,000 matters as the November 2025 low and a local trough of the current downswing. Below that, he highlighted roughly $74,000, tying it to the April 2025 low and describing it as the “Tariff Tantrum” bottom; he also noted it sits just under Strategy’s (MSTR) stated Bitcoin cost basis of around $76,000.
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He then pointed to around $70,000 as the top of the prior $50,000–$70,000 band near the 2021 high, before shifting to a more structural level near $58,000. That zone, he wrote, aligns with the 200-week simple moving average and an on-chain cost basis, with RV around $56,000. Finally, he flagged $50,000 and below as a psychological line, arguing that a break under it would likely revive “death of BTC” narratives.
I’m not a buyer yet, but if I were to be a buyer, imo the areas to watch for $BTC are:
~$80K: Nov ’25 low, local low of this “bear”
~$74K: April ’25 low, Tariff Tantrum low, just below $MSTR‘s cost basis (~$76K)
~$70K: Top of $50-70K range, near ’21 high
~$58K: 200W SMA &…— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) January 25, 2026
Burniske’s posture is deliberately non-committal on timing. “Importantly, I don’t care what happens,” he wrote, adding that if Bitcoin rallies he will “ride what I have and diversify,” while a deeper unwind would have him buying more Bitcoin and “select crypto assets.”
The thread also touched altcoins. Asked how he thinks about alts versus Bitcoin, Burniske said it’s “best imo to buy alts after you think btc is near bottom,” reinforcing that he’s treating BTC’s downside process as the key gating factor for broader risk-taking. On positioning, he said he is sitting “in treasuries, where yield > inflation,” and when asked about an upside level that would force him back in, he replied that he “wouldn’t chase,” preferring to hold existing exposure rather than re-risk at higher prices.
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Burniske’s renewed attention followed praise from Anthony Pompliano, who told him: “You nailed the SOL bottom and the BTC top over this cycle.” Burniske’s reputation for calling tops is partly tied to an October 2025 post in which he argued the market had likely been structurally damaged after a sharp selloff.
“We can always get another weak bounce, but I’ve taken action accordingly,” he wrote at the time. “I’ll likely get interested in the market again when I see BTC $75K or lower.”
Breakdown Or Bottoming Phase?
Separately, veteran technician Aksel Kibar posted a BTCUSD daily chart on Sunday without additional commentary. When asked directly about a breakout or breakdown, Kibar cautioned against overweighting diagonal formations: “Not giving too much weight to diagonal short-term patterns breakout/breakdown. I think this is part of the base building, searching for a bottom.”
Kibar had previously framed “technical support” as being “lower between 73.7K and 76.5K,” suggesting that if Bitcoin is indeed in a basing phase, the market may need time and repeated tests of those lower bands before a more durable trend reasserts itself.
At press time, BTC traded at $87,812.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
