Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision, said that the current cryptocurrency selloff, amid rumors of market-maker stress, mirrors past bull-market downturns. He mentioned that he is purchasing during the weakness while advising investors to respect volatility and manage their own risk. These comments were made on X.
“Utterly brutal crypto markets with relentless, rapid positions unwinding and rumours swirling after 10/10 of impaired market maker balance sheets leading to less liquidity and someone blowing up,” said Pal. “It reminds me a lot of 2021 when in a 4 week period Bitcoin fell 56%, ETH -62% and SOL fell -68%. The current price action is showing no signs of letting up yet even though we are massively oversold, but having lived through huge rapid de-rsking events before in many markets, this too shall pass. Good luck out there, its ugly and made harder by the lack of actual negative news outside of price.”
According to Pal, the crypto markets experienced a sharp selloff due to rumors of stressed market-maker balance sheets, forced liquidations, and thin liquidity across exchanges. Real-time derivatives data indicated funding rates turning deeply negative and open interest dropping as leveraged longs were flushed out. Some analytic dashboards estimated more than $3 billion in crypto futures positions were liquidated within a 24-hour period. This situation aligns with Pal’s description of “relentless, rapid positions unwinding” and a “huge rapid de-risking event,” which he compares to violent but ultimately temporary corrections in previous crypto bull markets.
Pal referenced the 2021 mid-cycle crash where Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana each lost more than half their value in weeks before later reaching new highs. Historical price data show that between April and July 2021, Bitcoin fell from about $64,000 to near $29,000 (around –55%), Ethereum dropped from roughly $4,300 to below $1,800 (around –58%), and Solana declined from near $58 to about $20 (roughly –65%). All three then rallied to new all-time highs by late 2021. These precedents support Pal’s argument that large drawdowns can occur within broader crypto bull markets without necessarily ending the longer-term uptrend.
Pal also cited earlier cycles to contextualize current volatility. Price histories reveal that during the 2016–2017 bull market, Bitcoin regularly experienced pullbacks of 30% or more before peaking near $20,000 in December 2017. In March 2020, during the Covid-19 panic, Bitcoin plunged from about $9,100 to under $4,000—roughly a 55–60% drop—yet went on to rally above $60,000 the following year. Analysts often emphasize that such drawdowns are statistically normal for crypto assets with high volatility and leverage. This supports Pal’s view that large swings are part of a long-term “multi-year trend.”
Raoul Pal is the co-founder and CEO of Real Vision, a financial-media and research platform launched in 2014 after his career as a macro investor. A former hedge-fund manager at GLG Partners and ex-co-manager of Goldman Sachs’ European hedge-fund sales division, Pal later founded Global Macro Investor, an institutional research service. Real Vision produces long-form interviews and analysis focused on macroeconomics, cryptocurrencies, and digital assets. In recent years Pal has become one of the most prominent public advocates for Ethereum and broader Web3 investing. The company is headquartered in both the Cayman Islands and New York City.
