In brief
- Macroeconomic uncertainties have unsettled investors.
- Liquidations soared past $900 million over the past 24 hours, including more than $550 million in longs.
- Major equity indexes finished in negative territory.
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies extended their losses late Monday amid a broader downturn in risk-on assets as investors fretted about macroeconomic uncertainties, including fresh concerns about U.S. interest rates and large tech firms’ spending on artificial intelligence initiatives.
Bitcoin was recently trading at about $92,200, down 2.3% over the past 24 hours, and at its lowest level since late April, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko.
The largest crypto by market capitalization has tumbled more than 14% over the past two weeks, erasing all its 2025 gains.
“The current drawdown across digital assets reflects a broader risk-off rotation driven by a convergence of macro headwinds,” Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at asset manager Bitwise, told Decrypt in an email. “The market is digesting a recalibration of liquidity expectations driven by a lower probability of a December [interest rate] rate cut. This sentiment is being exacerbated by risk-off contagion from the correction in the AI sector that is spreading across all risk assets.”
Angst about prices, the U.S. trade war, missing figures from the October jobs and inflation reports, and the slumping U.S. economy have buffeted markets in recent weeks, most recently casting doubt on the prospects of a rate cut that would benefit markets looking for additional liquidity.
On Monday, investors also mulled the commitment of powerhouse companies such as Google and Microsoft to AI projects that might weigh on their balance sheets in the near term.
Ethereum, the second-largest crypto by market value, was changing hands at roughly $3,000, also off 2% since Sunday. Ethereum dipped to $2,960 at one point, its lowest level in four months. Solana, Dogecoin, and XRP were off 4.4%, 3.7% and 2%, respectively.
The technology-focused Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both closed down by about a percentage point to continue their recent slides.
Crypto-focused stocks were caught up in the downturn, with exchange giant Coinbase tumbling more than 7%.
Meanwhile, investors have liquidated more than $900 million in positions over the past 24 hours, including more than $550 million in longs, Coinglass data shows.
“Some whales and miners have been selling into strength, and once the price broke key levels, leveraged longs started getting liquidated across derivative markets, which sped up the drop in price,” Maja Vujinovic, CEO at Ethereum treasury FG Nexus, told Decrypt.
“Over, this is more short-term de-risking and position resets rather than a structural change in thesis,” she added.
A Myriad predictions market shows 60% of respondents expect Ethereum to trend lower to $2,500 rather than $4,000, a reversal of last week’s trendlines that reflects growing pessimism about crypto markets.
Myriad is owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan.
But in a message to Decrypt, Stephane Ouellette, CEO and co-founder at crypto-focused services firm FRNT Financial, struck an upbeat note, saying that Bitcoin was only “roughly around its uptrend line from the rally which began in October of 2024.”
“The correction, at this point, can be described as ‘normal course,’” he said. “It would also be normal to see a sharp move lower and quick recovery as is typical of crypto markets.”
“Our models continue to suggest we are roughly halfway through the market cycle and are yet to see the extreme levels and volumes that have been typical at price-cycle tops in both 2017 and 2021,” he added.
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