BoJ hawkish signals weigh on crypto; Bitcoin dips below $90k, ETH holds $3k

Bitcoin continued to face headwinds as it struggled to hold above the $90,000 support level, amid expectations of a hawkish policy shift by the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Historically, each BoJ rate hike since 2024 has triggered a 20–30 per cent drawdown in Bitcoin, prompting traders to adopt a defensive stance.

 

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market fell 1.01 per cent, extending its monthly decline to 4.83 per cent. Total market capitalisation shed over $130 billion, now standing at $2.98 trillion. Around 116,000 traders were liquidated, with losses exceeding $295 million, highlighting high leverage and fragile market sentiment.

 

 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $89,713.87, down 0.46 per cent, on a 24-hour trading volume of $45.18 billion. The token oscillated between $87,634 and $90,302 during the session, according to CoinMarketCap. Ethereum, meanwhile, recorded modest gains of 0.47 per cent at $3,122.95, with volumes of $18.53 billion, moving between $3,034 and $3,148.

 

Despite near-term caution, institutional sentiment remains constructive. “Major banks in Brazil and the U.S. are recommending 1–3% portfolio allocations to Bitcoin, signaling growing mainstream acceptance. While liquidity tightening could extend short-term pressure, long-term adoption trends, new regulatory clarity in the UK, and US approvals for crypto banking licenses continue to reinforce the structural strength,” said Riya Sehgal, research analyst, Delta Exchange.

 

The current decline in Bitcoin, according to CoinSwitch Markets Desk, is due to BTC moving lower after failing to sustain the $92,000–$93,000 range, which triggered profit-taking and a shift to short-term risk-off positioning.

 

“With no immediate bullish catalyst, sellers gradually took control while buyers remained cautious, resulting in an orderly decline rather than a panic-driven sell-off. At the same time, upside is being capped by steady options selling from long-term Bitcoin holders. The brief consolidation near $90,000 acted as a bear flag, followed by continuation toward the $88,000 zone,” said CoinSwitch.

 

In the near term, holding $88,000 could allow a relief bounce, while a break lower, analysts believe, may open downside toward $86,000–$87,000. A decisive reclaim above $90,000–$91,000 would be needed to stabilise sentiment.

 

Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus, said Bitcoin has a key support at $86,000. “A clean break below that would likely open up the next downside pocket toward the low-$80,000s, where prior demand has shown up. On the upside, the market still needs a convincing reclaim of $90,000–$92,000 to signal that risk appetite is returning. Investors should keep positions light into macro volatility, avoid leverage, and treat altcoins as tactical trades until BTC confirms stability above $90,000 with better volumes,” he added.

Altcoins show mixed trend

Altcoins showed a mixed picture on Monday. Top gainers included MYX (MYX), Canton (CC), Trust Wallet Token (TWT), TRON (TRX), Internet Computer (ICP), Lido DAO (LDO), Injective (INJ), Polygon (POL), UNUS SED LEO (LEO), ether.fi (ETHFI), Bonk (BONK), Starknet (STRK), Optimism (OP), Filecoin (FIL), Aave (AAVE), Tether Gold (XAUt), PAX Gold (PAXG), Mantle (MNT), Ethereum (ETH), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Ethereum Classic (ETC), GateToken (GT), and Aptos (APT), with gains of up to 8 per cent, according to CoinMarketCap.

 

Conversely, Zcash (ZEC), Aerodrome Finance (AERO), Dash (DASH), OKB (OKB), SPX6900 (SPX), Monero (XMR), MemeCore (M), Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), Sky (SKY), PancakeSwap (CAKE), Toncoin (TON), Quant (QNT), Hedera (HBAR), Celestia (TIA), Kaspa (KAS), World Liberty Financial (WLFI), VeChain (VET), Pump.fun (PUMP), Curve DAO Token (CRV), Arbitrum (ARB), Flare (FLR), Tezos (XTZ), Jupiter (JUP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethena (ENA), Cronos (CRO), Sei (SEI), Stacks (STX), Ondo (ONDO), and Story (IP) traded lower, with losses ranging between 2–7 per cent.