Weekly crypto recap: Bitcoin loses key support level, IP leads altcoin gains

1 day ago 13

This week, Bitcoin broke below its multi-month support level at $90,000 and wiped out mostly all of the gains accrued in the post-election rally that began in November after President Donald Trump won the 2024 elections.

Macroeconomic pressures were the key factor behind this week’s downturn, with the total cryptocurrency market capitalization dropping approximately 13% to $2.91 trillion at the time of writing.

Market sentiment dropped to record lows into the extreme fear territory to 16, a level last seen in June 2022.

Similarly, most altcoins succumbed to market pressures and lost significant value, with several large-cap cryptocurrencies posting double-digit losses.

Why is Bitcoin going down?

The latest sell-off comes amid growing macroeconomic concerns, with Bitcoin and the broader crypto market reacting to fresh US tariff policies targeting China, Mexico, and Canada.

On Feb. 27, President Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, bringing the total to 20% starting March 4.

He also confirmed that 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will take effect the same day.

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned of an “immediate and extremely strong” countermeasure.

The uncertainty surrounding these tariffs has rattled risk assets, including crypto. Bitcoin’s sharp drop in February also hurt demand for spot ETFs, triggering outflows of about $3.65 billion.

On Feb. 25 alone, investors pulled $1.1 billion—the largest single-day withdrawal since the ETFs launched.

With poor macro conditions and investor sentiment at its lowest in nearly two years, Bitcoin’s price remains under pressure, and traders are closely watching key support levels for signs of stability.

What’s next for Bitcoin?

The general consensus among experts is that the current downturn would likely continue until the situation cools down on the global level.

According to Bitget analysts, the next key support level is at $75,000 based on historical patterns.

Others like, Global Macro Investor Raoul Pal expects a deeper correction to $70,000, although Bitget’s Ryan Lee says such a scenario is less likely without any new bearish catalysts in play.

Lee noted that while a drop to $70,000 isn’t off the table, it would likely require “sustained panic or macro deterioration beyond current pressures.”

He pointed to $75,000 as a more immediate level of support.

Meanwhile, well-followed analyst Rekt Capital said Bitcoin is in its first price discovery correction, and the current scenario could last another couple of weeks if historical patterns repeat.

He noted that while the ongoing 25% drawdown is milder compared to past cycles, where Bitcoin has seen corrections of 30% or more, its duration is aligning more closely with the 2013 cycle, which lasted 13 weeks.

If this trend holds, Bitcoin could still experience some downside pressure before stabilizing.

At the time of writing, one Bitcoin was selling for $84,261 down over 14% this week.

Altcoin market tanks

The total altcoin market cap dropped roughly 10% in the past week to $1.19 trillion by late Friday.

Most altcoins erased their gains accrued over the past months, and the Altcoin Season Index had slipped to a yearly low of 21 at publication time.

Story (IP) was the only cryptocurrency among the top 99 tokens by market cap to maintain significant gains, rising 17.4% during the period.

As of press time, its market cap was approximately $1.42 billion.

Most of these gains came after IP broke out of a descending channel pattern that kept its price in a downtrend between Feb. 21 and Feb. 25 and flipping the resistance at $6 as its support.

Story Protocol’s RWA platform, Aria, acquired and tokenized part of the copyright for The Truth Untold, a song by BTS and Steve Aoki which stirred community excitement leading to most of its gains over the past week.

Other altcoins, such as Maker (MKR) and Mantra (OM), saw most of their gains erased amid a broader altcoin market downturn, which shed nearly $135 billion and fell below a $1.2 trillion market cap. See below: