Bitcoin Dives Below $110K Despite Fed Rate Cut, Altcoins Mixed

Bitcoin’s highly eventful week began with promising momentum as the primary cryptocurrency spiked toward $116,000 on multiple occasions during Monday and Tuesday trading sessions. However, the asset encountered significant resistance at this crucial level, with Tuesday’s failed breakout attempt triggering a painful rejection that sent prices tumbling. Despite stabilizing around $112,000 ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Bitcoin’s anticipated positive reaction to the US Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point rate cut never materialized.

Instead of rallying on the dovish monetary policy news, BTC headed straight south, initially dropping to $110,000 before bears pushed it to a multi-day low of just under $108,000 by Thursday morning. The cryptocurrency showed brief signs of life following positive macroeconomic developments from the meeting between US and Chinese presidents, including Trump’s reduction of some tariffs against Chinese products, which briefly propelled Bitcoin above $111,500. However, this rally proved short-lived, with the asset struggling to maintain the $110,000 support level as market sentiment remained bearish despite fundamentally positive news.

The broader cryptocurrency market felt the ripple effects of Bitcoin’s decline, with the total market capitalization shedding approximately $80 billion in a single day to settle at $3.810 trillion. Bitcoin’s market cap specifically tumbled below $2.2 trillion, though its dominance over alternative cryptocurrencies remained remarkably stable near 58%, indicating the sell-off affected the entire digital asset ecosystem rather than representing a rotation out of Bitcoin specifically.

Most major altcoins followed Bitcoin into negative territory, with Ethereum (ETH) losing nearly 3% of its value to trade below $3,900 and XRP declining by 3.5% to $2.55. Other large-cap cryptocurrencies including Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Stellar (XLM) also registered losses, while Binance Coin (BNB), LINK, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and HBAR managed minor gains despite the challenging market conditions. The uniform downward pressure across major assets highlighted the correlation that often emerges during significant market corrections.

While the majority of the cryptocurrency market experienced declines, several altcoins demonstrated remarkable resilience and even posted impressive gains against the prevailing bearish sentiment. Zcash (ZEC) emerged as the standout performer, rocketing by 9% daily to trade above $350, significantly outperforming both Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency’s surge occurred despite the overall market losing billions in valuation.

Other notable outperformers included the TRUMP and M tokens, which both gained approximately 6-7% during the same 24-hour period that saw Bitcoin decline by roughly 7% from its weekly highs. These assets’ ability to chart impressive gains while larger-cap cryptocurrencies struggled highlighted the ongoing diversification within the crypto ecosystem and the potential for specific tokens to decouple from Bitcoin’s price action during periods of market stress. The divergent performance between declining majors and rising select alts created a complex market landscape for traders navigating the current volatility.