Why Is Crypto Down Today – May 19, 2025?

The crypto market turned red over the weekend. Barely any coins in the top 100 category are up today. The cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased by 3.3% over the last 24 hours, now standing at $3.36 trillion. The total crypto trading volume is at $141 billion at the time of writing.

TLDR:

Not a single coin among the top 10 coins per market cap has seen its price increase today. Ethereum (ETH) recorded the highest loss. It’s down 4.8% to the price of $2,386.

The smallest decrease is recorded by Bitcoin (BTC), having dropped 0.9%, now trading at $103,011. This is a significant pullback from the briefly held daily high of $106,518. Notably, this was also its high for the past week.

Only four of the top 100 coins saw their prices rise in this same time frame. Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) is the day’s best performer, with an increase of 4.5%, now changing hands at $1.82.

On the other hand, Bittensor (TAO) fell the most in this category: 7.1% to $399. It’s followed by Ethena (ENA)’s 6.1% to $0.3569.

Meanwhile, Virtuals is a protocol for tokenized AI agents on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 Base, which yesterday announced “more traffic coming [Base’s] way.”

Better discovery. Deeper analysis. @arbusai is now live on Virtuals Protocol. https://t.co/tTRSmx0Wl5 pic.twitter.com/W3bTjBiXh9

At the same time, it announced that Arbus Token, from the AI market intelligence layer Arbus, has gone live on Virtuals.

Overall, the day’s pullback seems to be driven by liquidations, currently standing at $669.12 million over the past 24 hours.

John Glover, Chief Investment Officer at crypto lending platform Ledn and former Barclays managing director, says he expects to see a short-lived Bitcoin correction before the next leg higher towards $136,000.

“The BTC price action is tracking the projected line nicely,” Glover says. He expects a short-lived correction into the mid-$80,000 region to complete wave (ii) of Wave 5.

Once that wave is done, the next impulsive move would be higher to target $120,000, with the ultimate target of $136,000 later in the year or early next year “to complete Wave 5 (orange line) of the bull run.”

Per Glover, “keep in mind that wave (i) can be completely retraced by wave (ii), so a retest of the $74,5000 low of Wave IV is not out of the question. But my expectations continue to be for a rally to $133,000-$136,000 into the end of this year/beginning of next.”

Meanwhile, Adam Back, CEO of blockchain tech company Blockstream, recently argued that BTC is significantly undervalued and could hit $1 million per coin during the current market cycle.

He said that the four-year cycle in BTC’s price action stretches with time and that we’re early in this cycle. “I’m thinking this cycle could get quite high […] $500,000 to $1 million, because there’s a lot going on.”

The catalysts include the US approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and crypto-friendly political approach in that country, Back said.

BULLISH: Adam Back says "$100,000 is way too cheap" and that Bitcoin gets between "$500,000 and $1 Million during this cycle." pic.twitter.com/7oy5haOTbn

Bitcoin posted its previous weekly high in December 2024 when the price surpassed $104,400. The coin is currently hovering around $103,000, signaling a short-term weakness. Nonetheless, a drop below the psychological level of $100,000 and the technical level of $98,000 could lead to further downside.

According to the latest Glassnode report, a key accumulation zone has been between $93,000 and $95,000. This zone will likely act as a strong support level in case of a short-term market pullback such as this one. It will be “a demand zone where investors are likely to see value once again.”

Moreover, the Fear and Greed Index has stood at 71 for several days now. While it may indicate a rise in optimism and buying activity, the downside is that it may also suggest overconfidence and overvaluation.

That said, the price is still supported by consistent spot ETF inflows and major macro factors. Inflation, tariff deals, and other economic factors are turning investor interest towards safe assets, including digital assets.

For the week ending 16 May, US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows totaling $608.4 million, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) leading the pack.

Furthermore, Metaplanet has purchased an additional 1,004 BTC on Monday. This is Asia’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, and the purchase is part of its Bitcoin accumulation strategy. This acquisition has increased its total holdings to 7,800 BTC.

The purchase comes days after the company reported record-breaking earnings for the first quarter of 2025.

*Metaplanet Acquires Additional 1,004 $BTC* pic.twitter.com/r86rLc7ngh

1. Why did crypto move against stocks today?

The broader crypto market has seen notable volatility and downward pressure today due to high leverage and liquidations. On the other hand, the US stock markets posted gains due to the increase in investor and macro optimism. For example, the S&P 500 is up 0.7% today, the Nasdaq-100 has increased by 0.43%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 0.78%.

2. Is this dip sustainable?

The current sell-off may be unsustainable, given the consistent institutional interest. The dip is likely a pullback triggered by liquidations across long and short positions. However, negative news or regulatory shifts, combined with the volatility, may trigger an additional correction.

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