Crypto markets are under pressure again as a wave of profit-taking, institutional selling, macro uncertainty and thin liquidity drives a broad pullback. The shift in sentiment has pushed the Fear & Greed Index down to 10 — firmly in “extreme fear” territory and the lowest reading since late February.
The tumble in sentiment follows a week of steady declines across major digital assets. Bitcoin led the slide, dropping to just under $96,000 and slipping below the $100,000 mark for the second time this month. The move caps a more than 5% loss over the past seven days and drags BTC back to price levels last seen in early March, well below its peak above $120,000.
Broader market gauges echo the weakness. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, which tracks top liquid cryptocurrencies, fell about 5.8% over the week.
Jake Kennis, Senior Research Analyst at Nansen, described the downturn as the product of several overlapping forces. “The selloff is a confluence of profit-taking by long-term holders, institutional outflows, macro uncertainty and leveraged longs getting wiped out,” he said. “The market has temporarily chosen a downward direction after a long period of consolidation.”
Rate-policy expectations are also weighing on risk assets. Hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut this month have diminished, with the CME FedWatch tool placing the odds of a 25 bps cut at around 50%. Prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket show similar probabilities.
Adding to the uncertainty, the White House has warned that key economic data — including October’s inflation report — may be delayed due to disruptions tied to the recent government shutdown, giving traders less macro information to anchor their outlook.
Liquidity remains a major concern as well. Order-book depth on major centralized exchanges has not recovered from October’s crash and continues to sit at structurally lower levels, leaving markets more vulnerable to sharp moves when selling intensifies.
