The entire crypto market capitalization has dropped to $2.93 trillion, its lowest level in eight months, erasing this year’s gains as short-term analyst sentiment remains negative.
According to CoinGecko, since hitting a peak of $4.4 trillion in October, the market has lost about a third of its value and is down nearly 14% in 2025, edging toward bear market territory. Earlier this year, it briefly fell to $2.5 trillion on April 9 before rebounding to record highs six months later. Overall, the crypto market cap has remained range-bound since March 2024 and is now hovering around the midpoint of that range.
Van de Poppe warns of short-term crypto pain amid fear
MN Fund’s Michaël van de Poppe had initially warned that the market could see additional short-term pain, expecting the downtrend to persist until the Bank of Japan gives its interest rate decision. “It’s very likely that the trend keeps going down until the BoJ comes out with the news. Wouldn’t be surprised if BTC continues to cascade and gets itself into a form of capitulation in the next 24 hours, as the trend clearly is down,” he said on X.
He added that altcoins might drop 10–20% before bouncing back, and that gold could reach a new all-time high, with a swift reversal once the news of the rate hike is revealed. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan raised its interest rate to 0.75% on Friday. And while some analysts cautioned that this could be bad news for crypto, Bitcoin outperformed the people’s expectations and soared 2.3% to $86,872.
However, the overall cryptocurrency market remains in a state of decline. Even Ethereum, the second-largest token, is also going through a rough patch, as investors anticipate more volatility. Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, stated that the recent decline in market capitalization was due to economic conditions and a reduced appetite for risk. He added, “While up to now there has still been short-term volatility, this pullback creates potential accumulation opportunities in really strong projects as the sector matures and continues to attract institutional capital.”
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency sentiment has returned to fear levels again, according to Santiment. The blockchain platform noted on Friday that a flurry of negative comments spread on social media after Thursday’s minor market swing. Bitcoin had risen to $90,200 before falling back to $84,800. However, the platform argued that when retail traders speak more about fear than optimism, it typically indicates a contrarian opportunity, as markets tend to move in the opposite direction of prevailing expectations.
The Fear & Greed Index is also currently at 16, signaling “extreme fear” in crypto. The index had stayed below 30 since early November. In a shared chart, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone called out similarities between the 1929 U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average and the 2025 Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index. Each of those years, almost 100 years apart, is marked by a rapid rise to a peak and an accelerated sell-off before it crashes, comparing early crypto to a beach ball pushed underwater until 2024.
