Crypto Market Sees AI Bot Profits and Major Shifts

Why Is the Crypto Market Sliding?

Disclaimer: This section contains CMC AI insights. CMC AI may be wrong — always DYOR. Not financial advice.

TLDR

Crypto dropped 0.63% in 24h, extending a 4% weekly fall despite an 11.5% monthly gain. Main drivers:

• Equity Market Drag – 85% correlation to Nasdaq-100 as tech cooled.

• Altcoin Liquidation Spillover – $36M+ BTC liquidations in 24h.

• Staking ETF Hype Fades – SEC exemption led to “sell the news” drop.

Deep Dive

1. Crypto-Equity Lockstep (Bearish)

Overview: Crypto’s 0.85 Nasdaq-100 link — highest since May 2025. Tech dipped 0.3% pre-market on Fed rate cut doubts, weighing on crypto.
Impact: Institutional crossover means macro news now moves crypto as much as blockchain events.
Watch: Friday’s U.S. jobs data — strong results could delay cuts, adding pressure.

2. Altcoin Weakness Builds (Bearish)

Overview: Altcoin dominance slid 19% in 24h; BTC dominance hit 61.1%. SOL (-7.7%), XRP (-4%), LINK (-6%) trailed BTC’s 0.3% slip.
Impact: Traders favored BTC amid regulatory uncertainty over staking tokens/memecoins. Altcoin Season Index dropped to 34/100.

3. Derivatives Overhang (Mixed)

Overview: Perpetuals open interest rose 20% to $824B; funding rates turned negative (-0.0018% for alts vs BTC).
Impact: Traders shorted alts heavily but kept BTC exposure, squeezing alt liquidity.

Other Key Events in Crypto Today

• Bitcoin fell under $113K; ETF funds exited quickly.

• Trump tariffs triggered a 3% drop, sparking $228M liquidations.

• Fidelity and ARK pulled $331M and $328M.

• Fear & Greed Index at 55 — neutral.

Trump Targets Crypto Banking Blacklist

Trump is set to sign an order directing regulators to probe if banks unlawfully cut crypto firms off — a move aimed at “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”

AI Bot Rakes in Millions With Meme Coins

The AI bot Clanker earned $34M+ in fees auto-launching tokens from user prompts. It deployed 355K tokens with nearly $3.5B in trade volume, peaking at $1M daily in November. Bots like Bankr now manage DeFi ops.

Firm Buys $2B in ETH During ETF Exodus

SharpLink added $264M in ETH to its treasury, now totaling nearly $2B. It bought 83,562 ETH at $3,634 each — all staked for rewards.

Pharma Firm Pivots to Litecoin

MEI Pharma raised $100M, dropped drug work, and became a Litecoin treasury company. Odds for a Litecoin ETF sit at 80%. LTC took 14.5% of crypto payments last month and is up 41% this month.

Binance Bets on Entire Crypto Market

Binance rolled out ALLUSDT perpetuals, covering every major USDT futures contract in one trade with up to 75x leverage. It rebalances daily and adds new listings automatically.