Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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BTC is down 1.2% in the last 24 hours and is now trading at $87,792.
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The bearish performance comes amid fears of another U.S. government shutdown and the first Fed rate decision in 2026.
BTC Dips to $87k as Altcoins Bleed
The cryptocurrency market had a bearish weekend, with Bitcoin dropping to the $87k level.
The leading cryptocurrency market is now trading above $87,700 after losing 1.2% of its value in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin’s bearish performance was driven by a broad macro risk-off impulse rather than crypto-specific news.
Analysts believe that the rising U.S. government shutdown risk, fueled by funding uncertainty and political deadlock, is the primary catalyst pressuring risk assets across the board.
There are concerns over a potential partial government shutdown in recent days amid legislative friction in Congress, where Democratic lawmakers have threatened to block a Department of Homeland Security funding bill following controversy over federal law enforcement actions.
The friction comes just months after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Vincent Liu, CIO of Kronos Research, stated that,
"Markets remain wary as the probability of a potential U.S. government shutdown has climbed to 75% on Polymarket, driven by stalled spending-limit negotiations."
Traders are also focusing on the upcoming Fed rate decision as it could affect Bitcoin’s price in the near term.
The bearish performance saw $224 million in liquidations on bullish bets in the last 24 hours, led by $68 million on bitcoin-tracked futures and $45 million on ether-based futures.
Altcoins Record Bigger Losses
With Bitcoin slipping below the $88k, altcoins recorded bigger losses in the last 24 hours. Ether is down 2% and has now dropped below the $2,900 mark, while BNB continues to struggle below $900.
Ripple’s XRP has defended the $1.85 support level and is now trading at $1.88. Thanks to the bearish performance, the total cryptocurrency market cap lost $100 billion in the last 24 hours and now stands at $2.96 trillion.
