Investor concerns have remained elevated amid economic headwinds, and crypto sentiment is hitting rock bottom, with volatility moving up as traders scrambled for protection, and markets trading in bear market mode.
Bitcoin dropped to its lowest price level since Donald Trump retook the White House a little more than a year ago, erasing the gains registered by the bellwether digital asset since the election victory of the crypto-friendly US president.
The largest cryptocurrency by market value extended its almost four-month slide, falling below $74,424.95, the lowest price of 2025. The token had dropped to that level on April 7 after Trump’s initial tariff plan upended financial markets worldwide. Bitcoin fell as much as 6% to $73,762 on Tuesday, and is now down more than 15% for the year.
“A lot of the traders were trying to buy the dip, betting on a rebound above $80,000,” said Bohan Jiang, senior derivatives trader at FalconX. “As Bitcon drifts lower, a lot of those positions have been liquidated putting pressure on prices.”
Despite a pro-crypto White House and surging institutional adoption, Bitcoin has plummeted over 40% since rocketing to a record in early October. The rout follows a crippling bout of liquidations on Oct. 10 – triggered by additional comments by Trump on tariffs – that wiped out $19 billion in leveraged token bets that the broader crypto market had yet to recover from.
Outside the price tumult in April, Bitcoin has largely stayed above the $75,000 level it reached on Nov. 6, 2024, the day after the reelection of Trump, who promised policies more favorable to the crypto industry.
The market has faced persistent downward pressure since the October selloff. Despite a brief reprieve the week of Thanksgiving, with Bitcoin bouncing back nearly 7%, the mood turned sour again in December.
Investor concerns have remained elevated amid economic headwinds, while stocks have struggled to rebound amid low risk appetite and persistent AI bubble fears.
“Crypto sentiment is hitting rock bottom,” said Augustine Fan, partner at Hong Kong-based crypto options platform SignalPlus. “Volatility has finally moved up after a yearlong move lower as traders scrambled for protection, with markets trading in bear market mode with ATHs now but a distant memory.”
While some institutional holders have held firm, retail participation has faded as major long-term Bitcoin holders have dumped billions worth of the asset.
The MarketVector Digital Assets 100 Small-Cap Index, which tracks the 50 smallest digital assets in a basket of 100 also plummeted almost 70% over the past year. So-called altcoins have largely underperformed Bitcoin and Ether since the two largest cryptocurrencies by market value received US approval for exchange-traded products, attracting institutional money. Yet spot ETFs for those assets — with a significant portion held by retail investors — have seen billions in outflows in November.
“Bitcoin still trades like a high-beta risk asset, not digital gold. That doesn’t mean the thesis is dead — it means it’s not there yet,” said Morten Christensen, a trader who runs AirdropAlert.com.
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