Crypto markets went through one of their worst weeks in three years, shedding roughly 14% in total market capitalisation and sliding back below the $3 trillion mark.
As of Friday, roughly $500 billion had exited the space in the past seven days.
Bitcoin alone plunged toward $82,000, deepening its month-long decline from record highs and reinforcing a brutal sentiment shift that’s left investors rattled.
Ethereum, XRP, and Solana all joined the downturn, compounding losses across the board as risk sentiment vanished.
By contrast, US equity markets experienced a milder pullback. The S&P 500 dropped 2.47% over the past five days, slipping from its recent peak to close at 6,547.57.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.71% over the same stretch, retreating by over 1,270 points to 45,794.35.
The Nasdaq Composite, which had led earlier gains this quarter, took a sharper 2.83% hit, ending at 22,142.47.
While still in the red, these losses were modest compared to the carnage seen in crypto.
Interestingly, stocks began clawing back losses late in the week. Optimism resurfaced after New York Fed President John Williams signalled the possibility of a near-term rate cut, prompting markets to price in a 75% chance of a December policy easing, up significantly from just 40% the day before.
This helped lift risk sentiment in traditional markets, allowing equities to stage a mini rebound into the weekend.
But that enthusiasm didn’t carry over to crypto as markets remained pressured by heavy liquidations and panic selling.
Why is the crypto market going down while stocks are recovering?
Much of this week’s downturn in the crypto market has been exaggerated by heavy liquidations and a sharp drop in investor demand.
With traders already on edge from macroeconomic uncertainty, the market had little resilience left when selling pressure began to intensify.
The absence of fresh inflows, paired with elevated leverage, meant the correction quickly snowballed.
Several overlapping factors fueled this downward spiral.
First, investors are questioning whether the Federal Reserve will actually deliver a rate cut in December.
If the central bank decides to hold borrowing costs steady, that undercuts the appeal of riskier assets like Bitcoin, which offer no yield, especially when traditional options like bonds and savings accounts become more attractive.
Second, there’s a visible rotation out of risk assets altogether, largely driven by scepticism around the sky-high valuations seen in AI-linked stocks.
That broader risk-off pivot has spilt over into crypto.
Compounding these concerns, geopolitical tensions have added weight to an already fragile market.
Traders were spooked by tariff proposals backed by former President Donald Trump, which suggested import duties of up to 500% on countries still trading with Russia.
At the same time, demand for US-listed spot crypto ETFs has also dried up.
Bitcoin funds extended their outflow streak to a fourth consecutive week.
This week alone saw over $1.5 billion pulled from Bitcoin ETFs.
Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs also recorded over $2 billion in outflows across the last three weeks.
These funds had been a major backstop for crypto prices in recent quarters, and their exodus sent a chilling signal that institutional demand may be fading.
Day 22nd of institutions selling their $BTC.
No bounce will hold longer until this reverses.
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Meanwhile, analysts say Bitcoin has failed to hold above several key levels, and with its performance often dictating broader market direction, overall market sentiment has taken a hit. (See below.)
$BTC update, failed to hold $88k and no LH printed (grey box). Straight down for the time being. Last time, with this much correction, it took 18-24 months to recover.
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#BTC
Bitcoin wasn’t able to reclaim the 50-week EMA
Bullish market structures invalidate when the macro trend is shifts
$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin
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Retail sentiment has become extremely fragile. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell to 15, firmly in the “extreme fear” zone.
Market pundits also noted that short-term traders have been at the centre of the recent sell-off.
Data from Glassnode and CryptoQuant show that these capitulations can sometimes precede a recovery rally.
However, if prices fail to recover quickly, which seems to be the case at the moment, it could indicate the start of a “deeper bearish trend” or a bear market.
Bitcoin Short-Term Holders Are Capitulating
“This often marks a local bottom if the price quickly reclaims the cost basis. Failing to do so historically indicates a deeper bearish trend or confirms a bear market.” – By @IT_Tech_PL
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Unlike traditional equities, crypto markets remain deeply vulnerable to leverage-induced whipsaws, which is why the market failed to recover like equities did, even as rate cut optimism lifted other risk asset classes.
In crypto, the prevalence of high leverage and loosely enforced margin requirements means sharp moves often trigger forced liquidations that snowball quickly. That dynamic played out in full force this week.
Billions were wiped out from crypto markets throughout the week, with Friday marking the largest single-day flush.
Long positions worth over $2 billion were wiped out as Bitcoin collapsed through key levels, confirming what many saw as a major breakdown in sentiment.
Bitcoin was down over 12% this week as of late asian trading hours on Friday, while Ethereum had posted slightly higher losses of 13% over the same period.
Other leading tokens like XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, all held losses between 8-20% over the past 7 days.
However, some altcoins managed to buck the broader market trend and ended the week with gains on the books.
Top gainers this week
Starknet
Starknet (STRK) price initially rose from $0.15 to $0.24 on Sunday before profit-taking set in and the token fell to $0.17 by Tuesday.
Following this, STRK experienced another rebound to $0.27 before settling at $0.23, with gains of 35% over the weekly period.
Source: CoinMarketCap
STRK token rallied due to recent technical upgrades and a steady increase in staking activity involving both STRK and BTC on the Starknet network.
On Nov. 20, Anchorage Digital launched Bitcoin staking on Starknet, allowing institutions to stake BTC alongside STRK.
This development marked a significant step toward institutional adoption and brought deeper liquidity and validation to the network.
Recent upgrades to the Starknet infrastructure, including the S-Two Prover, have improved the network’s speed, scalability, and efficiency.
These enhancements have contributed to a better overall user experience, which likely fueled renewed interest and rising demand from developers and investors alike.
Furthermore, the supply of stablecoins on the Starknet network recently reached a new all-time high.
Rising stablecoin supply generally signals increased user activity and broader participation in the ecosystem, a telltale sign of strengthening network fundamentals and liquidity growth.
MYX Finance
MYX Finance’s token MYX experienced significant volatility this week as it swung between $2.10 and $3.40 before eventually stabilising around the $2.50 mark, managing to hold onto gains of about 10% over the period.
Source: CoinMarketCap
For MYX, its recent gains came on the back of a record daily surge in protocol revenue and fees, driven largely by derivatives traders who were increasingly betting on upward price movements.
The rise in demand for MYX’s perpetual trading products made the platform more appealing to both retail and institutional investors.
On the technical side, MYX price broke above a critical resistance level, which helped shift market sentiment toward a more bullish outlook in the days that followed.
Additionally, the platform’s ongoing reward campaigns for liquid restaking, combined with its integration of Chainlink’s oracle services, played a key role in maintaining strong user engagement.
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