The cryptocurrency market came under renewed selling pressure over the past 24 hours as escalating tensions in the Middle East and the reported collapse of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire fueled investor uncertainty. Caution ahead of the release of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes also weighed on market sentiment.
Bitcoin traded between $64,189 and $61,639 during the period, reflecting broader weakness across digital assets. The market downturn coincided with rising sovereign bond yields, a stronger U.S. dollar, surging crude oil prices, weaker gold prices, and widespread losses in global equity markets.
Investor sentiment deteriorated further, with the CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index slipping to 26, down from 28 a day earlier, indicating persistent fear in the market. Despite the decline, sentiment remains above last week’s reading of 18, which reflected extreme fear.
According to Coinglass, cryptocurrency liquidations totaled approximately $434 million over the past 24 hours, including $332 million in long positions and $102 million in short positions. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 1.7% to $2.14 trillion, while trading volumes dropped 3.6%.
Market breadth remained weak, with only five of the top 100 cryptocurrencies posting gains of more than 1%, while nearly three-quarters of the leading digital assets recorded losses exceeding 1%.
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was trading 2.2% lower at $61,637.74. The digital asset remains around 51% below its all-time high of $126,198.07 reached in October 2025 and is down nearly 30% since the beginning of the year.
U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows of $22 million on Tuesday, down sharply from $266 million a day earlier. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) attracted $55 million in fresh investments, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) saw net outflows of $25 million.
Despite the recent weakness, Bitcoin has climbed to 14th place among the world’s largest assets by market capitalization, ranking between Tesla and Samsung.
Ethereum (ETH) also traded lower, falling 2% to $1,731.75 after moving between $1,810.33 and $1,724.98 during the session. The second-largest cryptocurrency remains approximately 65% below its record high of $4,953.73 set in August 2025 and has declined more than 41% year-to-date.
Meanwhile, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted net inflows of $27 million on Tuesday, up from $21 million the previous day. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) accounted for all of the day’s inflows.
Ethereum’s market capitalization ranking also slipped, falling to 96th among the world’s largest assets, highlighting the continued pressure on the broader digital asset market as geopolitical risks and macroeconomic uncertainty dominate investor sentiment.
