Bitcoin held above the $93,000 level during Monday’s U.S. session after an overnight slide to around $91,800, as fresh trade-war rhetoric from Washington pressured risk assets. The decline followed comments from U.S. President Donald Trump threatening new tariffs on Denmark and other European countries in a dispute connected to Greenland.

Liquidity was thin with U.S. markets closed for a holiday, allowing bitcoin to recover some ground, though it remained down about 2% on the day. Ether underperformed, falling 3.7% to trade just above $3,200, while losses spread across the broader crypto market. Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, Chainlink and Avalanche dropped between 5% and 6%, while Sui tumbled more than 10%.

Gold continued to attract safe-haven flows, rising to a fresh record near $4,700 per ounce as geopolitical uncertainty intensified. The metal is now up more than 70% over the past year.

Matt Howells-Barby, vice president at Kraken, said the pullback reinforced crypto’s sensitivity to negative macro headlines. Since the Oct. 10 crash, the asset class has exhibited “asymmetric downside risk,” with markets reacting more aggressively to bad news than to positive developments, he said.

Bitcoin had been positioned near levels that could have supported further upside, Howells-Barby noted, but geopolitical headlines quickly disrupted that momentum. Still, the relatively modest drawdown of roughly 3.5% suggests traders may be positioning for a potential softening in tariff rhetoric — a pattern often referred to as the “TACO” trade.

As political and business leaders gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Howells-Barby warned that crypto markets are likely to experience elevated volatility, reacting to any signals pointing to escalation or de-escalation in EU-U.S. trade tensions.

Renewed conviction

Bitfinex analysts said selling pressure from long-term bitcoin holders has continued to ease, with weekly distribution falling to roughly 12,800 BTC from cycle highs above 100,000 BTC.

However, they cautioned that bitcoin now faces heavy resistance between $93,000 and $110,000, a zone where long-term holder supply has historically capped rallies.

“For a more durable rally to develop, market structure needs to transition toward a regime where maturing supply outweighs long-term holder spending,” the analysts said.

They noted that similar conditions were observed between August 2022 and September 2023, as well as from March 2024 through July 2025 — periods that preceded stronger and more sustained bitcoin advances.

“Such a shift would signal renewed conviction among long-term holders and reduced sell-side pressure,” the analysts added.