Since the bear market in 2022, bitcoin (BTC) has witnessed substantial pullbacks, losing up to 23% of its value on some occasions. Understanding the depth of these declines could help investors maximize their returns, as rebounds from these drops usually yield substantial gains.

According to a tweet by crypto trader and analyst Rekt Capital, accumulating BTC after a pullback of approximately 20% could fetch investors good money as the crypto asset resumes its upward trajectory.

Bitcoin’s Pullbacks in This Cycle

2022 was a tough year for BTC as the asset suffered the pangs of the bear market. The collapse of the TerraLuna ecosystem, with the contagion that ensued, wiping out roughly $40 billion and dragging many crypto firms into bankruptcy, and the crash of FTX, one of the largest centralized exchanges at the time, caused BTC to plunge to $16,600, a level it had not seen since November 2020.

After the bear market bottom of 2022, BTC recorded a 23% plunge in February 2023. Between April and May of the same year, the leading cryptocurrency witnessed another 21% decline.

In addition, July and September 2023 also saw BTC plummet by 22%, marking the final massive drop before the year ended. BTC rallied for the rest of 2023 until mid-January 2024 due to heightened excitement and anticipation surrounding the approval of the first wave of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.

BTC Could Fall Another 18%

Then came 2024, where BTC saw its first substantial plunge of 21% in January after U.S. authorities greenlit the spot Bitcoin ETFs, rumored to be a sell-the-news event.

Following a major rally driven by inflows into the ETFs, BTC plunged again in March, losing 18% of its value. The downtrend saw bitcoin tumble from an all-time high of $73,700 to $61,900. Since the fall, BTC has struggled to move past $71,000, and the cryptocurrency has dumped another 18% this month.

Rekt Capital said the closer BTC gets to a 20% fall, the better the bargain-buying opportunity. The primary cryptocurrency is currently consolidating between $60,000 and $70,000, indicating that there could be another 18% decline if it revisited the $70,000 resistance and got rejected there.

“Once again, this cycle has shown that accumulating after any pullback close to -20% has yielded solid returns later on. So the next time a similar pullback occurs, it will be a must-take opportunity,” the analyst added.