What’s the Real Reason Behind Bitcoin’s (BTC) Price Drop? Experts Weigh In

The sharp selling pressure experienced in the cryptocurrency market in recent weeks has led to the erasure of all the gains Bitcoin has made since the beginning of the year.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies, the market’s largest crypto asset has been in free fall over the past month.

Bitcoin, which had fallen to as low as $89,368 earlier on Tuesday, fell below $90,000 for the first time since the April tariff-driven sell-off. This completely wiped out gains of up to 35% for the year, putting BTC in the -2% range by 2025.

Ethereum, the market’s second-largest asset, is also under similar pressure. It has fallen below $3,000 for the first time in five months, with its year-to-date performance falling to -8%.

Bitcoin hit a new record high above $126,000 last month, a strong rally fueled by the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly policies and the risk appetite created by post-Liberation Day tariff cuts.

ActivTrades analyst Carolane De Palmas states that the main reason for the uncertainty in the markets is the increasing questions about the Fed’s interest rate cut path in the coming months:

“Due to the US government shutdown, October data may not be released. The Fed will be forced to make decisions with incomplete information. This is a damaging environment for liquidity expectations for Bitcoin and is negative in itself.”

Investors are reportedly starting to more seriously price in the possibility that the interest rate cuts expected by 2026 will not materialize. This is putting additional pressure on risky assets like Bitcoin.

Function CEO Thomas Chen says traditional finance managers are downsizing their positions:

Bitcoin’s erasure of year-to-date gains has led managers to reduce their risk appetite. The macro outlook, the AI bubble, the outlook for the S&P, and tariffs are being watched much more closely now.

Alex Kuptsikevich, chief analyst at FxPro, points out the critical technical level that was broken last week:

“A drop below the 50-week moving average at the end of last week triggered selling and confirmed the break of the two-year uptrend. Currently, a pullback towards the 200-week moving average is the most likely scenario for BTC.”

*This is not investment advice.