The Trump crypto rally is fading

Yahoo

25-02-2025

The crypto euphoria that coincided with Donald Trump's return to the White House is fading.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD), the world's largest cryptocurrency, hit a 3-month low Tuesday as it briefly dipped below $87,000 for its biggest drop in three weeks.
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, fell 10%. Another popular cryptocurrency, Solana (SOL) fell more than 12% Tuesday, hitting its lowest point in five months, before recovering some of those losses.
Industry watchers aren't pinning the sell off on any single culprit. Instead they are pointing to a mishmash of negative forces spurring poor vibes, from broader macro uncertainty spurred by talk of widespread Trump tariffs to the recent hack of crypto derivatives exchange Bybit.
The bottom line is that a breathless rally following the election Trump late last year is losing steam.
"The Trump rally could be just getting exhausted here," Noelle Acheson, founder of Crypto Is Now, told Yahoo Finance Tuesday.
The pullback is happening despite persistent optimism within the crypto world about a pro-crypto Trump administration and a more favorable stance taken by regulators.
In just the last week, Coinbase and Robinhood both said the SEC had dropped a lawsuit and investigation related to their crypto activities — new signs that the biggest players in the industry would face less scrutiny going forward.
SEC commissioner Hester Peirce reaffirmed that stance in a Friday interview with Yahoo Finance, saying she hopes to provide "greater clarity" for the industry.
Acheson attributed the recent pullback to concerns about economic growth as the new administration rolls out a program of new tariffs and tax cuts.
But there could be another reason: not enough new money is entering the market. She expects that to change as more barriers to institutional participation get removed, but she noted that will take time.
"The mood has been bleak in the crypto market recently, and partly is because we haven't been getting the rally that we expected….I do believe that is because we're not yet seeing the new money come in." Acheson said.
"If crypto is still a thing next week — and it will be — the most important place to watch for new money coming into the sector is Wall Street, particularly the money center banks," Ryne Miller, a partner for law firm Lowenstein Sandler, added in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Crypto-related stocks including Strategy (MSTR), Coinbase Global (COIN) and crypto miners Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Marathon Digital (MARA) fell roughly between 7% and 10% as of noon Tuesday.
Another analyst, Bernstein's Gautam Chhugani, told clients in a Tuesday note that the 'Bitcoin market is following the broader equity risk sentiment driven by macro concerns.'
Bernstein doesn't believe bitcoin has reached its peak in its current four-year cycle. It has set that target "closer to $200K mark over next 12 months."
On a technical level, Chhugani sees bitcoin as potentially falling as low as $70,000, the price level set just before its post-election bull rally. Bernstein views the current correction or a move lower as "another opportunity to participate in this cycle."
Bitcoin's price could break away from poor macro sentiment "only if it gets more bullish announcements' from a new White House task force that is studying possible moves to make.
So far, Trump has delivered on some of the promises he made to the industry while campaigning, but other promises and regulatory developments for the crypto world are expected to take more time.
Major questions still remain around whether the Trump administration will deliver a "national digital asset stockpile," which Trump's AI and crypto czar David Sacks has been directed to evaluate.
Even though bitcoin is down 8% over the past 24 hours and more than 6% since the beginning of January, it's still up 26% since Trump's election victory.
The current pullback 'will find a floor eventually,' Acheson said.