Bitcoin (BTC $90,516.70) and the broader cryptocurrency market declined on Monday after reports that the European Union is preparing €93 billion ($110 billion) in retaliatory tariffs following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Greenland-related comments.
The news weighed on European equities and U.S. futures, while safe-haven assets like gold and silver surged to record highs. Bitcoin failed to follow suit, trading near $93,000 after a 2.5% drop since Sunday at 23:00 UTC.
Altcoins showed mixed performance. The CoinDesk 80 Index (CD80), which tracks altcoins, fell 4.64% over the past 24 hours but was down only 0.93% since midnight, outperforming the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which lost 2.5%.
Bitcoin slipped back below its $94,500 support level after a brief breakout last Wednesday, raising the risk of a return to the $85,000–$94,500 trading range that has persisted since mid-November.
Derivatives and Market Flows
The pullback forced nearly $800 million in leveraged long positions to liquidate over 24 hours, reducing bullish leverage across the market. Total crypto futures open interest (OI) fell over 2% to $138.14 billion. Bitcoin OI rose 0.65%, while ether remained flat. Other major tokens—including SOL, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SUI, and LTC—saw OI declines of 8%-13%, highlighting broad risk aversion.
Despite the selloff, 30-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH remained steady, indicating traders do not expect major near-term swings. The volatility skew on BTC and ETH options remains negative, reflecting continued downside caution.
Altcoin Highlights
Lighter’s LIT token dropped 10% since Sunday, while HyperLiquid reclaimed the top spot for derivatives trading volume as interest in Lighter faded following its December airdrop.
Monero (XMR $534.75) bucked the trend, rising over 13%, while DeFi tokens like ETHFI, ENA, and JUP saw double-digit losses. Layer-1 networks such as APT and SUI fell around 10%, and mid-cap tokens underperformed the majors, reflecting lingering liquidity pressures. Solana (SOL $127.70) and Cardano (ADA $0.3582) each fell roughly 6%.
Overall, the tariff-driven selloff triggered $815 million in liquidations, with $231 million hitting bitcoin and the remainder affecting altcoins, according to CoinGlass.
