Bitcoin falls below $90K, its lowest level since mid-November 2024, as the rally that followed Trump's election fades; ETH, XRP, SOL, and more also fell sharply
- Biggest token is now down almost 20% since Trump inauguration — Macro factors and crypto blowups combine to erode confidence
Context & Ripple Effects
The post-election crypto advance had already shown signs of exhaustion by late December, when Bitcoin was hovering near $92,000 after retreating from its mid-month high; the earlier loss of momentum makes this a continuation of a weakening rally rather than an isolated break.
The simultaneous declines in ETH, XRP and SOL matter because the reported confidence shock is market-wide: macro pressure and crypto-specific blowups are affecting more than Bitcoin alone.
First-order effects
- Bitcoin holders face a renewed drawdown, with the token nearly 20% below its inauguration-era level and the election-driven price premium further diminished.
- ETH, XRP, SOL and other token holders are immediately affected by a broad sell-off, rather than a Bitcoin-only repricing.
Second-order effects
- A synchronized decline makes crypto exposure more sensitive to macro risk and confidence in the sector’s underlying market structure, particularly while crypto blowups remain part of the sell-off narrative.
- The widening gap between the election-fueled peak and current prices raises the bar for any policy-driven optimism to sustain prices across major tokens.
Third-order effects
- If repeated broad drawdowns continue to follow macro shocks, crypto’s claim to trade independently of conventional risk markets will remain difficult to establish—a central feature of the crypto legitimacy gap.
- The pattern points toward a market in which political catalysts can lift sentiment quickly but do not by themselves create durable support when confidence in the sector deteriorates.
The trend: Crypto is increasingly trading as a confidence-sensitive risk market, where political enthusiasm can fade quickly when macro pressure and sector-specific failures converge.