Crypto Markets Shed $250B as Bitcoin Drops Below $90K and Major Alts Deepen Losses

TL;DR

• Crypto market cap slid below $3.1T, erasing $250B since Monday, as BTC broke $90,000 and briefly traded under $88,000 before rebounding above $89,000 again.
• Tariff threats and a €93B EU retaliation plan hit risk appetite; U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $800M redeemed, with $371M BTC longs liquidated.
• Altcoins extended losses: ETH fell below $3,000, XRP near $1.90, SOL near $127; XMR dropped 15% under $500 and HYPE fell over 8%.

Crypto markets reversed early-year gains in a fast risk-off unwind, pushing total capitalization below $3.1T after more than $250B was wiped out since Monday morning. Bitcoin led the move, breaking $90,000 and briefly dipping under $88,000 to a 19-day low before rebounding above $89,000. What stands out is how quickly sentiment flipped once liquidity thinned and sellers pressed the bid. The drop followed a run to $98,000 and several sessions holding above $95,000, then a sudden shift as Asia and futures reopened. Desk chatter turned to spot depth, funding stress, and forced de-risking today.

Tariffs, ETFs, and Liquidations

Bitcoin’s slide was incremental before it turned abrupt: it fell from $95,500 to $92,000, snapped back near $93,500, then rolled to $91,000 on Tuesday before pushing under $88,000. The key signal was a clean break of $90,000 that accelerated stops and reduced bid support. By the time price steadied above $89,000, BTC was about 2% lower on the day and 6% down on the week. Its market cap was cited near $1.780T, while dominance over altcoins hovered around 57.5%. That retracement erased the first two weeks of January upside and reset near-term positioning globally.

Macro headlines helped frame the selloff. The backdrop included President Donald Trump’s Davos appearance and tariff threats tied to Greenland: proposed U.S. levies on Europe start at 10% and could rise to 25%, while EU leaders floated a €93B retaliation package. In that environment, risk capital rotated, and crypto traded in lockstep with volatile equities. Flow data added weight: over $800M of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs were redeemed this week with no inflows, and BTC longs saw $371M liquidated in 24 hours after a Martin Luther King Jr. liquidity gap. Gold topped $4,600, too.

Altcoins deepened losses as the drawdown broadened. Ethereum, above $3,300 over the weekend, slid below $3,000 after three consecutive down days and was described as struggling to hold $3,100, down 10% on the week. XRP fell from over $2.10 to about $1.90 and traded below $2, while BNB lost $900 and TRX was off 3%. The common thread is de-leveraging, where collateral sales in bitcoin spill over into higher-beta tokens. Solana traded near $127 and was cited as down 11% weekly. XMR dropped 15% to under $500, and HYPE fell over 8% to $21.