After setting new all-time highs in early autumn, crypto has flipped into one of its sharpest pullbacks in years.
Live data from major aggregators show the global crypto market value back under the 3T dollar mark after briefly touching record levels. From peak to recent lows, more than a trillion dollars in paper value has been erased.
Bitcoin, still the market bellwether, has fallen from above the 120,000 dollar area to the mid‑80,000s and low‑90,000s in recent days. That leaves it roughly a third below its peak and makes November one of its worst months since the 2022 bear market.
Ether has fared even worse in percentage terms. It has dropped from the high‑3,000s toward the mid‑2,000s, giving up most of its post‑summer gains.
Other majors have followed:
In short, the entire large‑cap complex is under pressure, not just one or two isolated names.
Several forces are hitting the market at the same time.
Shifting expectations around central‑bank policy remain a key driver. Investors who had positioned for faster rate cuts are now facing a slower and more uncertain path. Higher-for-longer yields make speculative assets less attractive at the margin and tighten overall liquidity.
Crypto, as a high‑beta risk asset, tends to feel this first. When bond yields rise and equity volatility picks up, leveraged positions in Bitcoin and altcoins become harder to justify.
Spot Bitcoin exchange‑traded funds, which were a major source of inflows earlier in the year, have recently swung to net outflows. Billions of dollars left the largest products in November as investors took profits or de‑risked.
At the same time, futures and perpetual markets have seen repeated waves of liquidations. Data providers tracking derivatives show that more than ten billion dollars in leveraged long positions were wiped out across October and November, with single days of over a billion dollars in forced closures.
ETF redemptions and margin calls feed on each other: ETF selling can push prices down, triggering liquidations, which then spark more selling.
While macro and leverage dominate the narrative, local shocks have added to volatility:
None of these stories alone explain the entire slump, but they contribute to a risk‑off tone when the broader backdrop is already fragile.
The details differ by asset, but the pattern is similar: lower lows, fading rallies and heavy volume on down days.
Bitcoin’s slide from above 120,000 dollars to the mid‑80,000s has been driven by:
Despite the drawdown, Bitcoin is still well above its 2022–2023 bear‑market lows and prior cycle peaks. That leaves open the question of whether this is a deep correction within a larger bull market or the start of a more prolonged bear phase.
Ethereum has underperformed Bitcoin during this slump.
Higher real‑world yields reduce the relative appeal of staking returns, and competition from other smart‑contract platforms and layer‑two networks has fragmented activity. As a result, ETH has fallen faster than BTC on several of the worst days, and its key support levels in the 3,000–3,200 band have given way.
For traders, the concern is that ETH may need a period of sideways consolidation and clearer narratives around scaling and real‑world use cases before it can lead again.
Solana, one of the cycle’s strongest performers on the way up, has been one of the hardest hit on the way down. From a peak near 300 dollars, it is now trading in the 120s, more than 50 percent off the highs.
That pattern is common for high‑beta assets:
Other high‑beta majors, from layer‑one platforms to DeFi governance tokens, show similar double‑digit monthly declines and sharp intraday swings.
Exchange‑linked tokens like BNB and payments‑focused assets like XRP have not been spared.
Sector‑specific stories – such as new products, partnerships or legal milestones – still matter at the margin, but in the short term they are competing with a powerful macro and liquidity shock.
Sentiment gauges that track social data, volatility and positioning have swung from greed back into fear.
At the same time, market‑structure data show that decentralised exchanges continue to handle large volumes, and long‑only holders are still adding slowly on the way down. The slump is painful, but it has not yet triggered a complete collapse in activity.
Given the mix of macro stress, ETF flows and technical damage, it is more useful to think in scenarios than in single‑point forecasts.
In this path, selling pressure continues but gradually slows. Bitcoin and majors make new marginal lows over the coming weeks, then begin to form a wide, choppy range.
This would look like an extended, grinding correction rather than an outright collapse.
Here, the worst of the selling is already behind the market.
Under this scenario, December and early 2026 feel frustrating rather than catastrophic: lots of noise, but no clear trend for a while.
In the most optimistic near‑term scenario:
This could set the stage for a sharper relief rally, with Bitcoin and majors retracing a significant portion of November’s losses. Even in this case, however, the market would still need time to rebuild confidence after such a violent move.
For traders and investors, several practical lessons tend to come out of phases like this:
Anyone looking at the market today needs to weigh not just upside scenarios, but also the possibility that volatility and bleeding can continue longer than expected.
None of this is financial advice. Crypto assets are highly speculative, and both large gains and large losses are possible over short periods.
The headline is simple: the market slump is real, and Bitcoin and major altcoins are still bleeding.
After one of the worst months in recent years, prices remain under pressure, sentiment has swung back to fear, and macro and liquidity headwinds have not yet cleared. At the same time, the drawdown sits on top of a cycle that has already taken crypto to new highs, and the core infrastructure of exchanges, stablecoins and on‑chain applications is still in place.
Whether this phase evolves into a deeper bear market or “just” a brutal correction will depend on how macro data, ETF flows, and market structure interact over the next few months. For now, the most realistic stance is cautious: respect the downside, stay aware of the broader environment, and avoid assuming that any single dip must be the last one.
The post Market Slump: Bitcoin And Majors Are Still Bleeding appeared first on Crypto Adventure.
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