Crypto Market Caps Drop $230B as Fear Index Hits April Lows

This week has seen a significant downturn across the cryptocurrency landscape, with market sentiment plunging into fear and volatility rising. Major tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced sharp declines amid broader financial concerns, prompting a sell-off that erased hundreds of billions in market value. Meanwhile, declines in NFTs, memecoins, and crypto ETFs highlight a widespread risk-off sentiment, reflecting increased regulatory scrutiny and macroeconomic uncertainties that continue to influence crypto markets.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp shift in sentiment this week, with the Fear & Greed Index plunging into “fear” territory, a level not seen since April. This decline was driven by a dramatic sell-off, which wiped out over $230 billion from the sector in a single day, reflecting growing caution among traders and investors.

On Friday, CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 28, indicating heightened market fear and approaching “extreme fear” conditions. Meanwhile, traditional financial markets also experienced volatility, with the Fear & Greed Index for broader assets dropping to 22, driven by concerns over US stock declines, credit market jitters, and geopolitical tensions involving US-China trade issues.

Top crypto assets continue to bleed

Bitcoin (BTC) fell nearly 6% to around $105,000, while Ether (ETH) declined almost 8% to approximately $3,700. Among large-cap altcoins, BNB (BNB) led losses with a nearly 12% slide, followed by Chainlink (LINK) with an 11% drop and Cardano (ADA), which fell 9%.

Other major tokens, Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP), also tumbled over 7%, extending a week-long decline that wiped out earlier gains for the month. Overall, the biggest non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies declined by approximately 8–9% in the past 24 hours.

Despite last week’s sector-wide downturn, which led to nearly $20 billion in liquidations, this week’s market correction was notably quieter. Data from CoinGlass shows that about $556 million in leveraged positions were liquidated across exchanges, with approximately $451 million from long positions and $105 million from shorts — significantly lower than the previous week’s activity.

Parallel to these declines, other asset classes like memecoins, NFTs, and crypto ETFs also faced sharp reactions. Memecoins, which previously showed signs of recovery, dropped 33% within 24 hours. Leading memecoins fell by 9–11%, though trading volumes remained high at nearly $10 billion.

The NFT sector, after rebounding from a $1.2 billion wipeout last week, saw its total valuation dip below $5 billion — levels not seen since July. Data from CoinGecko indicated that many top NFT collections experienced double-digit percentage declines in the past day.

Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs reacted with significant outflows, with Thursday seeing over $536 million withdrawn from Bitcoin ETFs and more than $56 million from Ether ETFs, illustrating widespread risk aversion among institutional investors.