Bitcoin price movements dominated the market narrative on Monday, crashing through the early Asian trading hours as traders took a defensive stance in response to several bearish catalysts emerging from the US.
Although selling pressure eased later in the day, the initial volatility left a significant mark on the charts.
Over the past 24 hours, over $100 billion worth of total market capitalisation was wiped off the global cryptocurrency market as market sentiment shifted toward a more cautious tone, specifically one marked by fear.
The crypto fear and greed index dropped 5 points to 44, entering Fear territory once again after trading in the neutral zone for a little over a week.
The drop reflects the growing anxiety among retail and institutional investors who are grappling with the potential for a transatlantic trade war.
Altcoins mostly traded with losses across the board by late Asian trading hours, with the top-performing asset managing to hold on to modest gains between 2% and 6%.
While larger assets like Ethereum and Solana felt the weight of the sell-off, a handful of resilient tokens managed to buck the trend, though the broader market remained firmly under the control of the bears.
Why did Bitcoin price crash today?
Bitcoin price fell from an intraday high of $95,420 to as low as $92,284 in just a few hours during early Asian trading, as a string of negative headlines piled onto a market already showing signs of exhaustion.
Traders were caught off guard by a mix of geopolitical flare-ups, regulatory gridlock in the US, and waning hopes for monetary easing, creating an environment of uncertainty that left little room for optimism.
The most prominent trigger was the sudden escalation of trade hostilities following President Trump’s announcement of a 10% tariff on eight European nations.
With the threat of duties starting at 10% and rising to 25% by June if no deal is struck, fears of a full-blown trade war quickly rippled through investor sentiment.
Gold, often seen as a safe-haven during geopolitical turbulence, shot to record highs. But instead of following suit, Bitcoin, long touted as “digital gold”, headed the other way.
The correlation broke down, at least for now, as traders opted for safety in the physical rather than the digital.
Adding to the heavy selling pressure was a significant setback in the US regulatory landscape.
The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, which many hoped would provide a definitive framework for the industry, hit a major roadblock after the Senate Banking Committee postponed its markup hearing.
This delay followed a high-profile withdrawal of support from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who raised concerns over late-stage amendments that could potentially restrict stablecoin rewards and the tokenization of equities.
For a market already sensitive to any sign of regulatory uncertainty, the delay was enough to turn cautious sentiment into active selling.
Beyond geopolitics and regulation, the macroeconomic environment has turned increasingly unfriendly for crypto bulls.
Sticky inflation readings and a surprisingly resilient job market have all but erased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month.
With the Fed entering its blackout period ahead of the January 28 policy decision, there’s no fresh guidance coming from policymakers.
JP Morgan and other major financial institutions now anticipate the Fed will hold rates steady through much of the year.
Without the prospect of cheaper borrowing costs to fuel liquidity, Bitcoin lost the momentum needed to sustain its push toward $100,000, eventually triggering a cascade of nearly $800 million in long liquidations that accelerated the price drop.
Selling turned mechanical, with algos adding to the momentum once the $93,000 level failed to hold.
By the time the dust settled, Bitcoin was scraping the $92,000 mark, flirting with deeper support levels.
Will Bitcoin price go up?
Although Bitcoin price had recovered from some of the day’s losses, it is yet to reclaim the $95,000 psychological area, which will be key before any meaningful recovery can be expected.
However, the broader consensus about Bitcoin’s short-term price trajectory among crypto trading circles had mostly turned bearish as some prominent market indicators were flashing bearish signs.
For instance, Bitcoin’s 30-day average Coinbase Premium Gap fell to about −63.85, its lowest level since January 2025, according to analyst Mignolet.
The CPG tracks the price difference between Bitcoin’s USD pair on Coinbase and its USDT pair on Binance.
When the gap turns deeply negative, it means Bitcoin is trading at a lower price on Coinbase, suggesting US traders are selling more aggressively than their offshore counterparts.
When the gap is positive, it typically signals stronger US buying demand.
“Since the ETF market was not open at the time, this selling pressure is coming from US whales operating outside of ETFs,” the analyst wrote.
At the same time, Bitcoin open interest has fallen sharply in the past 24 hours, which means that the market is undergoing a significant deleveraging phase.
This sharp reduction in outstanding derivative contracts indicates that a large number of overleveraged long positions have been forcibly closed or liquidated following the price drop.
While such a flush can lead to a healthier market structure in the long term by removing excess speculative froth, the immediate impact suggests a lack of conviction among traders to maintain their bullish bets in the face of current geopolitical and regulatory headwinds.
Bitcoin price action was also mirroring a historical fractal that preceded a market crash, according to well-followed pseudonymous analyst Linton Worm.
According to the analyst, the current setup is repeating the 2022 fractal almost exactly, characterised by a specific sequence of technical events starting with a relief rally followed by a bull trap under major resistance.
However, on the weekly time frame, fellow crypto analyst Crypto King noted that Bitcoin was still trading in an uptrend while sharing the below chart.
“As long as BTC stays above this trendline, the trend stays bullish. Next level to watch is $100K, then higher if momentum continues, the analyst wrote.
When writing, Bitcoin was price changing hands at $92,775, with losses of roughly 2.3% on the day.
Altcoin market recap
The altcoin market, which has largely been following Bitcoin’s lead over the past months, remained pressured as the volatility spread across all sectors.
Notably, the altcoin market capitalization dropped from $1.42 trillion to $1.31 trillion within 2 hours earlier in the day, before seeing some recovery to $1.37 trillion at the time of writing.
Ethereum (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, fell by 3.7% to $3,200, while other large-cap cryptocurrencies such as BNB (BNB), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) saw losses ranging between 2-7%.
The majority of the top 100 altcoins that led the market were also seen in the red, with the top losers being Aster (ASTER), Celestia (TIA), and Sui (SUI) with losses ranging between 12-14%.
Monero, leading with gains of 6.3%, benefited from the resurging strength of the privacy coin narrative as investors reacted to tightening global financial regulations.
Meanwhile, Humanity Protocol (H) and Sky (SKY) followed with gains of 4.7% and 2.7% respectively, standing out as some of the few assets seen afloat at the time of writing.
Source: CoinMarketCap
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