Bitcoin Falls Below $91K Amid Asia-Led Crypto Selloff

Bitcoin gave back last week’s gains, sliding to $90,258 as Asia-driven selling hit the crypto market alongside weaker U.S. equity futures. The decline erased BTC’s rally from $98,000 and underscores persistent market volatility.

Most of the selling occurred during the Asia session, beginning around 01:15 UTC and easing by 07:00 UTC. Privacy-focused coins were particularly affected, with Monero (XMR) down 9% to $515 and Dash (DASH) falling 3% to $69.44, reflecting cooled trader interest after a strong start to the year.

Crypto’s decline mirrored U.S. equities, with Nasdaq 100 futures falling 1.9% and S&P 500 futures down 1.6%. Investors remain cautious amid U.S.-EU trade tensions over Greenland. Safe-haven assets extended gains, as gold and silver hit record highs.

Derivatives and Market Activity

• Exchanges liquidated over $360 million in crypto futures over 24 hours, mostly from long positions.
• Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility (BVIV) climbed to 42% from 39.7%, signaling increased demand for options and hedging.
• DOGE, ZEC, and ADA led declines in futures open interest, while BTC remained steady.
• Funding rates for major tokens stay mostly positive, except for ZEC and TRX, which show heavy bearish positioning.
• On Deribit, BTC and Ether (ETH $3,000.50) put options trade above calls, and on Derive, traders assign a 30% chance of BTC falling below $80,000.

Altcoins Under Pressure

Ethereum and Solana (SOL $130.22) fell over 3%, while DeFi tokens AERO and SKY lost more than 5.5%. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) slid 3.91%, underperforming broader benchmarks.

Market watchers say Bitcoin’s next move will shape altcoin stability. Consolidation between $85,000 and $95,000 could stabilize markets, while a drop below $85,000 could trigger broad losses, as liquidity has yet to recover from October’s $19 billion liquidation cascade.