- Bitcoin dropped 3.5% to a 2026 low before rising to $87,733 in early Asia trading
- Ether fell 5.7% before gaining 2%, trading near its lowest level since mid-December
- Bitcoin ETFs saw $1.7 billion outflows over five days, nearly offsetting prior inflows
Bitcoin suffered a sharp fall Sunday to start the week on shaky ground, even as it staged a minor rebound in early Asia, as global geopolitical tensions prompted a move away from risk assets and into safe havens such as gold.
The largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 3.5% Sunday to a 2026 low of just above $86,000 before climbing to $87,733 Monday morning in Singapore. Second largest token Ether slumped as much as 5.7% before rallying 2% to trade at $2,872, still close to its lowest level since mid December.
Monday's reprieve “is more of a pause than a big bounce,” said Sean McNulty, APAC derivatives trading lead at FalconX. “We are not seeing a ton of flows so far this morning.”
Spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds saw five consecutive days of outflows totaling $1.7 billion last week in the US, almost wiping out the previous four days of inflows, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Geopolitical concerns such as President Donald Trump's threat of 100% tariffs on imports from Canada, reports of a large fleet of US warships heading toward Iran and rising odds of another US government shutdown are weighing on overall market sentiment, Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG Australia, said in a note.
Traders also began the week on heightened alert for Japan intervening in the market following the yen's recent slide, and with news of China's biggest military purge in roughly half a century.
Gold advanced beyond $5,000 an ounce for the first time as haven trades picked up.
ALSO READ: Dollar Falls Amid Japan Intervention Risk, Gold Up: Markets Wrap
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