WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cryptocurrencies are trading deep in the red as anxiety ahead of the crucial consumer price inflation report further dampened sentiment in a market grappling with fears of a recession. Amidst the crypto selloff, overall crypto market capitalization has dropped to a low of $2.61 trillion implying an overnight loss of a little less than 2 percent. More than 75 percent of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are trading with overnight losses of more than a percent.
Consumer price inflation readings for the month of February, the first full month since the start of the second Trump administration is due for release on Wednesday morning.
Headline annual inflation is seen cooling to 2.9 percent versus 3 percent in January and 2.9 percent in December. The core component thereof, excluding the volatile food and energy prices is expected to record 3.2 percent as compared with 3.3 percent in January and 3.2 percent in December. Month-on-month inflation is expected to ease to 0.3 percent in February. It was 0.5 percent in January and 0.4 percent in December. The core component thereof is also expected to decline to 0.3 percent versus 0.4 percent in January and 0.2 percent in the previous month.
Despite the expected cooling in prices, markets expect the Federal Reserve to maintain status quo on rates in line with the Fed's oft stated stance that it was not in a hurry to cut interest rates. The Fed has maintained that given the policy level changes in the realms of trade, taxes, government spending, immigration and regulation, it has well positioned itself to wait for greater clarity before taking a decision on cutting interest rates.
The CME FedWatch tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders currently shows a 97 percent likelihood of a pause in rates in March. In May 2025, markets however factor in a 46 percent probability of a rate cut by the Fed. Nevertheless, crypto market sentiment appears bearish as concerns about a restrictive monetary policy add to the disappointment over the slow pace of crypto-friendly measures from the new regime.
Crypto market sentiment has deepened into a state of fear, with the CMC Fear and Greed Index, a proprietary tool developed by CoinMarketCap to measure the emotional state of the market currently at the yearly low of 15 (Extreme Fear). The index was at 17 (Extreme Fear) a day ago, 24 (Fear) a week ago and 37 (Fear) a month ago.
Bearish sentiment towards cryptocurrencies reverberated in the ETF markets also. Outflows from Bitcoin-based ETF products in the U.S. recorded $278 million on Monday. Ethereum-based ETF products also witnessed outflows of $34 million on Monday.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped 0.81 percent overnight and 2.5 percent in the past week to trade at $80,853.37. It is currently trading 26 percent below the all-time-high at $109,114.88 recorded on January 20. The original cryptocurrency traded between a low of $76,624.25 and a high of $82,032.77 during the past 24 hours.
The leading cryptocurrency with a market share of 60.9 percent is trading with losses of close to 16 percent over the 30-day horizon. Bitcoin has slipped 13.4 percent on a year-to-date basis in sharp contrast with Gold Futures, that has gained 10.7 percent during the same period.
Ethereum, the leading alternate coin touched a 16-month low of $1,760.94 before recovering to its current level of $1,904.28 implying overnight losses of 8.5 percent and weekly losses of 7.7 percent. Ether has also lost 27 percent over the past 30 days and 42.8 percent till date in 2025. Ether's current trading price is 61 percent below its all-time-high. The most valued alternate coin currently accounts for a market share of only 8.7 percent.
Amidst the plunge, Ethereum slipped several notches to be ranked 58th in global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.
4th ranked XRP (XRP) slipped 1.3 percent overnight to trade at $2.12, around 45 percent below the all-time high touched in January 2018. The cryptocurrency has however added 2.2 percent in 2025.
5th ranked BNB (BNB) declined 1.5 percent overnight and 3 percent in the past week at its current trading price of $549.10. BNB is currently trading 31 percent below the all-time high touched on December 4, 2024.
The price of 6th ranked Solana (SOL) dropped 1.8 percent overnight. With weekly losses of more than 8 percent, SOL is currently trading at $123.26, around 58 percent below its record high on November 23, 2024.
8th ranked Cardano (ADA) edged up 0.31 percent overnight to trade at $0.7223. Despite weekly losses of 9.4 percent, ADA is the highest-ranking cryptocurrency to trade with gains in the past 24 hours and over the past 30 days. ADA is currently trading 77 percent below the record high touched in September 2021.
9th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) plunged 7 percent overnight to trade at $0.1596. Having lost 15.8 percent in the past week, DOGE is trading 78 percent below the previous peak scaled in May 2021.
10th ranked TRON (TRX) erased 3.6 percent overnight to trade at $0.2272. TRX has shed 2.8 percent in the past week. The trading price is 48 percent below the cryptocurrency's all-time high recorded on December 4, 2024.
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