Sea of Red: Altcoins Lose Billions as Crypto Market Falls to $2.84 Trillion
The cryptocurrency market took a sharp dive on Tuesday, falling 7.37% to $2.84 trillion as of 10:52 a.m. ET, marking its worst sell-off in months. Concerns over President Donald Trump's tariff policies fueled a massive sell-off in altcoins.
Sea of Red: Altcoins Lose Billions as Crypto Market Falls to $2.84 Trillion
Cryptocurrency Market Sees Biggest Drop in 2025
Cryptocurrencies outside the top 45 by market capitalization were all down sharply, with many assets posting double-digit losses. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell below $87,000, although its market dominance rose to 60.5% as investors turned to safer assets, avoiding riskier altcoins. The global cryptocurrency market has lost billions of dollars since President Trump’s February 1 tariff announcement and subsequent remarks on Monday.
Telcoin (TEL) Leads the Drop
Telcoin (TEL) led the decline with a sharp 24.5% drop, followed by chex (CHEX) and bittensor (TAO), which fell 23.93% and 19.31%, respectively. Mid-cap assets like raydium (RAY) and hedera (HBAR) were also not immune to the negative trend, falling 18.16% and 16.59%, respectively. Major altcoins like AAVE, gnosis (GNO), and fantom (FTM) all fell more than 15%.
In addition, sonic token (SONIC) also fell 14.85%, and ethereum domain name service (ENS) lost 15.02%. However, a few tokens bucked the trend: ACT gained 16.49%, IP gained 15.61%, and binaryx (BNX) recorded a gain of 9.48%.
Tariff Policy Concerns Lead to Sell-Off
Experts linked the decline to growing concerns about President Trump's tariff policy on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China, which investors fear could destabilize global trade and inflation. Bitcoin's relative stability while altcoins plummeted underscores BTC's role as a digital safe haven in the eyes of investors.
Markets Still Worried
However, Bitcoin’s drop below $87,000, down 7% on the day, underscored the broader market sentiment, including for the leading cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, US Treasury yields rose on Tuesday morning, adding further pressure to speculative assets, while major stock indexes also fell.
The massive sell-off on Monday and Tuesday underscored the sensitivity of altcoins to changes in the macro environment. With losses far exceeding Bitcoin’s, the event is considered the worst crash since 2025, underscoring the increasingly intertwined relationship between the crypto market and geopolitical policy, challenging the decentralized nature of the industry.
