Bitcoin dropped below the $90,000 level overnight, being weakened by sell pressure in equities, as the cryptocurrency market is currently awaiting the next catalyst.
Coin Metrics data shows that the price of bitcoin has shown a 5% drop to $89,156.20. It is worth noting that before this, the indicator decreased to $86,869.39.
The mentioned decline puts the blue-chip coin almost 20% below its all-time high reached on the day of the inauguration of the President of the United States Donald Trump last month.
Steven Lubka, head of private clients and family offices at Swan Bitcoin, stated that stocks have faced several difficult sessions over the past week, but top-performing shares have down many times on the index as markets grapple with increased uncertainty under the new administration. It was also noted that this pressure spilled over into bitcoin and the crypto markets.
The S&P 500 posted a three-day losing streak last Monday, February 24, as it failed to recover from a sell-off last week caused by concerns about a slowing economy and sticky inflation.
Steven Lubka stated that ultimately, the lack of visible short-term catalysts and pressure from the stocks form an environment for profit-taking and pressure from shorts.
The bitcoin descent has triggered a wave of long liquidations, forcing traders to sell their assets at the market price to settle their debts. CoinGlass data shows that over the past 24 hours, $614.5 million in long liquidations on centralized exchanges.
Bitcoin started 2025 in a rally mode amid optimism about the favorable changes that are expected to be implemented in the space of the cryptocurrency industry as a result of the corresponding actions of the Donald Trump administration. At the end of January, the US president issued his widely anticipated executive order on crypto. This executive order was well received by the industry, even though the wording about the strategic reserve of bitcoin turned out to be more tamer compared to preliminary expectations. Currently, the crypto market has little to look forward to.
It is worth noting that optimism about the long-term beneficial impact of the Donald Trump administration’s policies on cryptocurrency remains at a high level. At the same time, the dynamic of digital currency has been and may remain dictated by macroeconomic tendencies.
Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, stated that from November to January, the virtual currency market was very enthusiastic about pricing in a crypto-friendly US administration. The expert also noted that currently there is a question of waiting for the next catalyst. Moreover, Joel Kruger stated that all of this is in place, and the market is in a bit of a sell-the-fact consolidation sell as it kind of waits.
The $90,000 level marks the bottom of the narrow range bitcoin has been trading since the end of November. Analysts warn that if a significant decline in bitcoin is below the mentioned level, a deeper pullback towards $80,000 may be recorded.
Joel Kruger stated that bitcoin still has room to go back down to the $70,000-$75,000 level without doing anything that could compromise its outlook. According to the expert, demand will be high against the background of heading down towards the mentioned levels.
Steven Lubka suggests that bitcoin will finish digesting this move and resume its long-term move higher by mid-March.
Other cryptocurrencies fared worse on Monday. Ether and Solana’s sol tokens dropped by 8% each. The cryptocurrency market as a whole has lost more than 7%, as evidenced by the CoinDesk 20 index.
As we have reported earlier, Fold Bitcoin Debuts on Nasdaq.
