Bitcoin's price has retreated below the $70,000 mark, failing to sustain a weekend rally that briefly pushed it toward $72,000. The asset has since declined by over $2,500, with its market capitalization now at approximately $1.390 trillion. This continues a volatile trend from late January, where BTC plummeted from a local high near $90,000 to a low of $60,000 last week—its lowest level since before the November 2024 U.S. presidential elections.
The broader cryptocurrency market is facing significant pressure. The total crypto market cap has dropped by around $70 billion in a day, falling below $2.430 trillion. Major altcoins are predominantly in the red: Ethereum (ETH) is down 3-5%, trading near $2,030; XRP has declined to around $1.40; BNB sits near $623; while SOL and DOGE have each shed about 4% of their value.
Derivatives data signals a strong bearish shift. Bitcoin futures open interest has dropped from $19 billion to $16 billion in a week, indicating sustained deleveraging. Funding rates on major exchanges like Bybit and Binance have turned neutral-to-negative, favoring short sellers. Options markets show a high demand for downside protection, with the one-week 25-delta skew for BTC rising to 20% and implied volatility in extreme backwardation. Coinglass reports $397 million in 24-hour liquidations across the market, with BTC, ETH, and SOL leading in notional value.
Amid the widespread decline, WLFI stands out as a notable exception, surging 8% to nearly $0.11. Other tokens like XMR, SKY, and LEO are also slightly in the green. Conversely, tokens such as JUP, ONDO, and ARB have suffered daily losses of up to 8%.
In a separate development, the Rainbow wallet's RNBW token launch on Base encountered significant issues. The token price plunged 75% from its initial $0.10 offering price to $0.025 due to distribution delays and backend problems, disappointing speculators who had bet on a $100 million fully diluted valuation.
