The crypto market is still reeling after this weekend’s massive wipeout. On Tuesday morning in London, Bitcoin dropped 2.9%, landing near $112,500, while Ether took an even harder hit, down over 5%, sitting just above $4,000, according to data from Bloomberg. This slump followed an already chaotic weekend, where a staggering $19 billion in leveraged positions vanished from the system. The crash started back on October 10, after Donald Trump threatened China with new tariffs in response to their export controls. Beijing didn’t sit still. In retaliation, China slapped restrictions on U.S. units of Hanwha Ocean Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder. That move piled onto the pressure already dragging down crypto prices. There was a brief bounce on Monday, but it didn’t last. Almost every major token has since resumed its downward spiral, with the market looking unstable. On top of the losses, U.S. Bitcoin and Ether ETFs got gutted; investors yanked out $756 million on Monday alone. That’s a big sign that traders are getting out. Analytics firm Glassnode described what’s next as a “consolidation phase” marked by “renewed caution, selective risk-taking, and a more measured rebuilding of confidence across both spot and derivatives markets.” Altcoin market gets wrecked in full view of traders It wasn’t just Bitcoin and Ether that got smoked. The altcoin world exploded. The so-called “casino” of meme tokens, hype coins, and barely-liquid projects went up in flames. The ones promising ridiculous gains with zero substance got hit the hardest. Researchers at Arca said, “If you’re a fully on-chain crypto degenerate trader, however, you witnessed armageddon.” That’s not an exaggeration. Many of these altcoins had no real liquidity, but they had grown into a big chunk of the market. Back in July, Bitcoin dominated with nearly 65% of the total crypto market cap. Now, that number is down to 58.5%, per CoinMarketCap. History says that kind of drop in Bitcoin dominance usually happens just before a big drawdown. It happened in 2019. Again in 2022. This looks like another round. Traders expect a long freeze for smaller tokens. The problem? Most of them weren’t even doing well before this collapse. “The problem with alt coins is, yes, they can go up more,” said Morten Christensen, the founder of AirdropAlert. “But they can go -50% in a day or -90% in a week. I am not going to play that game with my portfolio late in the cycle when the odds keep increasing that the end is here.” Trump memecoin tanks as market looks for direction Some of the biggest losers this year have been the ones that rode into the spotlight on buzz and branding. The Trump memecoin, which launched in January, has now lost nearly 78% of its value. Most of that came before the weekend collapse. Another one (XRP, still ranked as the fifth-biggest crypto) is back where it started in January. No gains. Just pain. A few coins did manage to stay green for the year. BNB , which is tied to Binance, is up 81% so far in 2025. But that doesn’t mean it’s all good news. “These assets in particular have been subject to a considerable amount of risk, as we saw this weekend,” said John Todaro, analyst at Needham & Co. “Yet they’ve been underperforming large-cap crypto assets, equities and gold. In short, taking on significantly more risk for what has been less reward.” Get seen where it counts. Advertise in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.
