Bitcoin and Ether lost more footing on the price ladder over the weekend, dropping to lower values amid the ongoing market volatility. U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement calling for a 15 percent hike in global tariffs, despite the Supreme Court initially telling him against the action. The development triggered macro-uncertainty in the market, the impact which hit the digital assets market like a speeding truck.
Bitcoin, at the time of writing, was trading at $65,605. As per CoinMarketCap, the most expensive crypto asset dropped in price by 5.45 percent over the last day. Ether on the other hand slipped in price by nearly four percent to retail at $1,878 on Monday.
In conversation with Coin Headlines, market analysts pointed out that large holders are presently dominating exchange inflows, suggesting that whales are driving the latest wave of distribution. The analysts also pointed out that short-term investors continue to realize losses.
“Bitcoin has broken below the $65,000 level as selling pressure intensified. Altcoins are also under pressure, with rising exchange deposits and heightened volatility pointing to risk-off sentiment. Major tokens such as Ethereum and Solana have seen increased inflows to trading platforms, indicating potential near-term selling. Stablecoin inflows have declined, signaling weaker sidelined buying power as crypto markets test key support levels alongside softer U.S. equity futures,” noted Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder and CEO, Unocoin.
Market milestones that led here
Both, Bitcoin and Ether were last trading at their price peaks in October 2025. At the time, President Trump had heated up the tariff tensions with nations including China and India among others.
In the last four months, the two most expensive crypto assets, have fallen from their all-time highs of $126,000 and $7,645 to their current lows of $65,000 and $1,800 respectively.
Earlier in January, market participants had increased engagement with the two assets, that was playing a catalyst in pushing the assets up the price ladder. However, this upward trajectory for BTC and ETH was rather short-lived.
After the Federal Reserve chose to not revise the current interest rates and keep them at 3.5 percent–3.75 percent during the January meeting, the already destabilized market, tumbled again.
Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve officials had discussed the possibility of raising interest rates again. The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) January meeting released last week suggested that policymakers remain concerned about persistently high inflation. In order to combat inflation, the regulators could consider an “upward adjustments” to the federal funds rate that could have become necessary.
In addition, President Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Chair has also garnered concerns among market participants. Earlier this month, Bitunix analyst Dean Chen had told Coin Headlines that the “Warsh panic” is building in the market owing to his “hawkish” history with a foreseeable tightening of the money supply — cutting off the cheap liquidity that usually fuels crypto rallies.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Analysts’ take
Both, BTC and ETH are down by over four percent in their seven-day average prices.
Owing to the market swings, over 142,700 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours with total liquidations hitting $490 million over the last day, data by CoinGlass showed.
Market watchers have reiterated that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning earlier reciprocal tariffs, followed by the administration’s pivot to Section 122 duties, has injected fresh policy uncertainty.
“President Donald Trump’s 15 percent global-tariff announcement rattled global-risk assets, triggering a sharp risk-off rotation. Capital flowed toward safe-havens like Gold, which rallied over two percent, while de-risking amplified the sell-off in crypto,” Riya Sehgal, crypto analyst at Delta exchange told Coin Headlines.
She highlighted that amid hefty ETF outflows and tightening liquidity, the market sentiment has collapsed.
“The Crypto Fear and Greed Index now sits at five to six, one of the lowest readings since 2018. While near-term bias remains bearish, prolonged extreme fear often precedes medium-term accumulation phases,” Sehgal added.
source: CoinMarketCap
According to Glassnode, whales increased their total balance by roughly 230,000 BTC over three months, valued at $15.59 billion. On-chain data shows a V-shaped accumulation by whales absorbing some of the selling pressure.
“For now, BTC might test the $60,000 levels before a rebound. Immediate resistance stands at $68,500,” said Akshat Siddhant, Lead quant analyst at Mudrex.
Bitcoin’s upward or downward price movement is set to lead the next leg of the market sentiment. For now, analysts have said, market winds can be expected to remain choppy.