Why Bitcoin Plunges Below $90,000

The queen of cryptocurrencies is lagging behind. At 8:30 a.m. (French time) on Tuesday, February 25, bitcoin reached $88,273 on CoinMarketCap, falling below the symbolic $90,000 mark. At 10:15 a.m., bitcoin is trading around $89,000. The market's leading cryptocurrency has lost 6.5% in one day and 11% in the space of a month.

Bitcoin is trading 18% lower than its last all-time high of $109,000 reached on January 20, 2025 , after Donald Trump's inauguration in the United States.

Bitcoin plunged the entire cryptocurrency market in its fall on Tuesday. The second cryptocurrency on the market, ether, lost 10% in one day, trading below $2,400 while the other most capitalized cryptocurrencies on the market suffered severe losses, including solana (which lost 13% in one day) and dogecoin (which lost 11% over the same period).

How can we explain this new fall in bitcoin? On the one hand, bitcoin was weakened this Friday following the giant hack of the crypto exchange Bybit, to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars. In a few hours, bitcoin went from 99,400 dollars to 95,000 dollars on the same day.

On the other hand, investors are worried about a trade war between the United States and its main economic partners. In this context, they prefer to get rid of their risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.

"Investors fear that an escalation of the trade conflict will push up inflation and dampen hopes of a cut in key rates," explains Timo Emden of Emden Research for Zone Bourse.

Faced with strong movements in the cryptocurrency market, investors must remain cautious.