Bitcoin (BTC $90,516.70) and the broader cryptocurrency market traded lower on Monday as reports emerged that the European Union is preparing €93 billion ($110 billion) in tariffs in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Greenland-related threats.
The tariff news pressured European equities and U.S. futures, while safe-haven assets such as gold and silver surged to record highs. Bitcoin, however, failed to follow the precious metals’ upward trend, trading near $93,000 after falling roughly 2.5% since 23:00 UTC on Sunday.
Altcoins showed mixed performance. The altcoin-focused CoinDesk 80 Index (CD80) dropped 4.64% over the past 24 hours but was down just 0.93% since midnight, outperforming the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which declined 2.5%.
Bitcoin has slipped back below the $94,500 support level following a brief breakout last Wednesday, putting it at risk of returning to a trading range between $85,000 and $94,500 that has persisted since mid-November.
Derivatives Positioning
The market pullback hit leveraged bulls hard, forcing nearly $800 million in long positions to liquidate over 24 hours. These liquidations removed significant bullish leverage from the market.
Total notional open interest (OI) in crypto futures fell over 2% to $138.14 billion. Bitcoin’s OI rose slightly by 0.65% over 24 hours, while ether’s OI remained flat. Other major tokens—including SOL, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SUI, and LTC—saw declines of 8%-13% in OI, reflecting broad capital outflows and growing risk aversion.
Despite the selloff, 30-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH has remained steady, suggesting traders do not anticipate extreme near-term price swings. The volatility skew between Deribit-listed BTC calls and puts remains negative across time frames, signaling persistent downside concerns—a pattern mirrored in ether. BTC block flows indicate balanced activity, with traders pursuing both put and call spreads.
Token-Specific Moves
Lighter’s LIT token continued to weaken on Monday, dropping 10% since 23:00 UTC on Sunday. This decline coincided with HyperLiquid regaining the top spot among derivatives exchanges by trading volume, as interest in Lighter’s platform waned following its December airdrop.
The broader altcoin market was mixed overnight. Monero (XMR $534.75) diverged from bitcoin, rising more than 13% as privacy coins remained a standout performer. Meanwhile, DeFi tokens such as ETHFI, ENA, and JUP posted double-digit losses, and layer-1 networks like APT and SUI fell roughly 10%. Medium-cap tokens underperformed major cryptocurrencies, highlighting ongoing liquidity challenges after October’s liquidation cascade. Solana (SOL $127.70) and Cardano (ADA $0.3582) were not spared, each losing about 6%.
The tariff-driven market selloff triggered $815 million in liquidations, with $231 million attributed to bitcoin and the remainder hitting altcoins, according to CoinGlass.
