Still, some investors anticipate a range-bound trading pattern for bitcoin (BTC) due to concerns that the U.S.-China trade tensions will not be resolved quickly. This follows President Trump’s late Friday decision to exempt certain products from Chinese tariffs, a gesture perceived as a willingness to negotiate. As Duong explained, crypto is often used as a proxy when traditional markets are closed, increasing the magnitude of the reaction to crypto prices. Some analysts speculated that the industry was in a bull market, with some even calling it a ‘supercycle’—a prolonged period of economic expansion driven by sustained demand and investor optimism. However, that narrative was challenged when Bitcoin tumbled more than 31% to nearly $73,000 two months later.
- It is a volatile asset class, and we could easily see a pullback again.
- It’s something that we are looking at on my team just to try to understand a bit more of this on-chain analytics and how it translates to price.
- As Galaxy notes, the entrance of prime brokers offering lending and leverage on these products is already expanding the market.
This resource empowers everyone—from beginners to experts—to get the most of crypto with ease and confidence. While institutional lenders like Galaxy and Ledn fought to stay afloat, DeFi protocols quietly expanded their market share. Platforms like Aave and Compound, governed by code, require borrowers to post more collateral than they borrow, thus eliminating much of the credit risk that crippled CeFi. Also, because they’re decentralized, cryptocurrencies lack standard pricing, unlike fiat, which is regulated by governments. After all, at one point in time, Bitcoin was worth a few pennies, whereas now it’s valued at tens of thousands of dollars.
Signs of a crypto bear market
As macro conditions evolve and policy shifts begin to reshape the regulatory environment, capital is consolidating into assets with deeper liquidity, stronger narratives and institutional relevance. Bitcoin’s rising dominance, shifting ETF flows and the fragmentation of altcoin performance all point to a market recalibrating around structural factors rather than sentiment alone. COIN360, the main source of cryptocurrency prices on a visually appealing heatmap. We aggregate prices from the most trusted sources and allow you to always be one step ahead by getting an instant view of the entire market or specific sectors on various timeframes. We also offer interactive charts, and comprehensive tools to help you make informed decisions.
Joshua is passionate about the intersection of traditional (TradFi) and decentralised finance (DeFi) and the potential of DeFi to revolutionise the financial sector. At CCData, an affiliate of CoinDesk, Joshua has launched numerous research reports and https://hor-tax.com/ played a key role in developing the first institutional-grade Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Benchmark. He has participated in discussions on Stablecoins, CBDCs, and ESG considerations with leading industry figures and regulatory bodies.
But once again, this is part of that flushing out of the bad actors scenario that I mentioned earlier. Liquidity—how easily assets can be bought and sold without significantly impacting price—is key in distinguishing bull and bear markets. High liquidity indicates a market where transactions occur smoothly, with minimal price volatility, due to a large number of active buyers and sellers.
What we can expect is some regulatory clarity and that regulatory conversation to heat up in 2023. And with that, whatever comes out of it will fuel market movements, the direction is still yet to be known. For financial analyst Jacob King, founder and CEO of WhaleWire, market sentiment also depends on whether investors believe the data. One widely followed metric, the Fear and Greed Index, aggregates market factors to assess whether investors lean toward caution or excitement. The Fear and Greed Index ranges from 0 to 100, with lower values indicating fear, suggesting cautious or bearish investor sentiment, and higher values reflecting greed, signaling optimism or bullish market behavior.
Explore Market Capitalizations of Different Coins
By contrast, ether fell 45.3% — underperforming most major assets amid continued migration of user activity to Layer 2s and a lack of positive catalysts. U.S. spot ETH ETFs saw net outflows of $228 million in Q1, compared to net inflows of over $1 billion for bitcoin ETFs. The ETH/BTC ratio declined to 0.022, its lowest level since May 2020, reinforcing the shift in relative dominance this cycle. Some of the more mainstream fintech players are more active in the crypto space. Some of the larger financial institutions that may have had crypto projects are rethinking how active they want to be in the space. So I do suspect that some large financial institutions have probably put on pause or are reassessing their crypto strategies, but the fintech players themselves are going to remain active and continue to build.
Consumer Sentiment
In bear markets, liquidity tends to dry up as trading slows, amplifying price volatility. Trading and investing in digital assets is highly speculative and comes with many risks. The analysis / stats on CoinCheckup.com are for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice. Statements and financial information on CoinCheckup.com should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation to buy, sell or hold.
Notably, the next FOMC meeting after the April 9 minutes will be May 6-7, 2025. The precious metal is up 11% over the last month and 27% this year to around $3,340 a troy ounce. Bank of America’s Global Fund Manager Survey shows that 49% of fund managers see “long gold” as Wall Street’s most crowded trade, with 42% of fund managers forecasting it to be the best-performing asset of the year. Crypto lending is climbing back, with DeFi apps leading recent growth.