Bitcoin reversed early strength from Asian trading, sliding below $88,000 and weighing on major altcoins as risk appetite faded.
The largest cryptocurrency briefly rose above $90,000 before turning lower, according to CoinDesk data, cutting short tentative recovery attempts across the market. Major tokens including XRP, ether, solana and dogecoin also pulled back from session highs. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) retreated to around 2,726, roughly its early-Asia level, after earlier climbing to 2,789.
The move tracked weakness in equity index futures. At the time of writing, Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 0.5%, signaling a cautious tone ahead of U.S. trading. Bitcoin typically shows a strong positive correlation with the tech-heavy index, a relationship that tends to strengthen during equity market drawdowns, according to Wintermute.
The pullback prompted traders to trim leveraged exposure. Data from Coinglass shows cumulative open interest across bitcoin futures slipped to roughly 533,000 BTC from about 540,000 BTC earlier in the day, after rising from 524,000 BTC as prices advanced toward $90,000.
Recent price action suggests bitcoin has underperformed during U.S. trading hours, according to Laser Digital. Analysts at the firm noted that both BTC and ETH fell more than 3% during U.S. hours last week, offset by gains in Asia, a pattern they attributed largely to year-end tax-loss harvesting. Crypto has been among the weaker-performing global asset classes this year, they added.
Still, some market participants remain constructive on bitcoin’s broader outlook. John Glover, chief investment officer at crypto lender Ledn and an Elliott Wave specialist, said the longer-term technical setup remains favorable despite near-term uncertainty. He expects bitcoin to trade sideways to slightly lower in the weeks or months ahead and would look to add long positions between $71,000 and $84,000.
