Bitcoin Bounces From 10-Month Lows but Stays Below $80,000 as Policy Uncertainty Lingers

Bitcoin rebounded modestly on Tuesday after tumbling to near 10-month lows, but the world’s largest cryptocurrency continued to trade under pressure below the $80,000 level as heavy liquidations and uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy weighed on sentiment.

Bitcoin was last up 2.8% at $78,558.4 by 01:42 ET (06:42 GMT).
The token had fallen as low as $74,635.5 over the previous 24 hours, marking its weakest level since early April, after a wave of stop-loss orders and margin calls accelerated the sell-off.

Liquidations and Fed leadership concerns weigh on sentiment
The sharp weekend decline was largely driven by forced liquidations of leveraged positions, underscoring how much speculative exposure had built up during last year’s rally.

Derivatives data showed that several billion dollars worth of crypto positions were wiped out in a short span of time, with the vast majority of liquidations coming from long positions. Thin liquidity over the weekend amplified price swings, allowing relatively small moves to trigger a cascade of forced selling.

Macro uncertainty has also pressured crypto markets. Investors are reassessing the outlook for interest rates following U.S. President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve.

Warsh is widely viewed as more hawkish on inflation and liquidity than markets had previously expected, raising concerns that financial conditions could remain tighter for longer — a negative backdrop for risk-sensitive assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Adding to the uncertainty, the release of the closely watched U.S. January employment report has been delayed due to a partial government shutdown, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, leaving markets without a key data point to assess the near-term economic outlook.

No breakthrough on stablecoin yields
Regulatory uncertainty also remained in focus after reports showed little progress at a recent White House meeting between crypto executives, major U.S. banks and government officials.

Discussions centered on whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer yield-like returns, but participants reportedly failed to bridge differences. Banks warned that yield-bearing stablecoins could accelerate deposit outflows and pose financial stability risks, while crypto firms argued such features are essential for industry growth.

Altcoins rebound but remain volatile
Most major altcoins also rebounded alongside Bitcoin, though volatility remained elevated.

Ethereum rose 4.6% to $2,325.92, while XRP gained 2.1% to $1.61.
Solana advanced 3.5%, Cardano jumped 5%, and Polygon surged more than 10%.

Among meme tokens, both Dogecoin and $TRUMP climbed around 3.5%, recovering part of their recent losses.