Solana, Cardano and Hyperliquid led the day’s losses as risk appetite cooled across digital assets.
Bitcoin slipped toward the $80,000 level on Tuesday as broader crypto markets retreated alongside Wall Street, with the total digital asset capitalization falling 1.6% to roughly $2.76 trillion over the past 24 hours.
The leading cryptocurrency was changing hands at $80,262 at press time, down 1.7% on the day and 1.3% lower on the week, according to CoinGecko. Ether fared worse, sliding 2.8% to $2,265 and extending its weekly decline to 4.7%.
Altcoins Lead Losses
Most of the Top 20 tokens traded in the red. Solana dropped 3.7% to $94, although it remains 10% higher over the past week. Cardano slid 4.2%, while Hyperliquid’s HYPE token shed 3.5% to $40.32 and is down 8.5% on the week.
XRP fell 3.5% to $1.43, BNB lost 1.1% to $653, and Dogecoin gave up 2.4%.
Hot CPI Rattles Risk Assets
US consumer prices rose 0.6% in April and 3.8% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking the highest annual headline reading since May 2023 and coming in a touch above the 3.7% Dow Jones estimate. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, climbed 0.4% on the month and 2.8% annually, also topping forecasts.
Energy prices jumped 3.8% in April, accounting for more than 40% of the headline gain, with the gasoline index up 28.4% over the past 12 months amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Shelter costs reaccelerated 0.6%, while real average hourly wages slipped into negative territory year-on-year for the first time since April 2023.
Traders responded by trimming rate-cut bets further. CME Group’s FedWatch tool now shows a roughly 30% probability of a Fed rate hike by December, while a June hold is fully priced in.
Equity markets sold off in tandem. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down about 1.5% in afternoon trading, the S&P 500 shed 0.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded close to flat, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 retreating from Monday’s record closing highs. WTI crude pushed back above $100 a barrel after President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest peace offer and described the ceasefire as on “massive life support.”
ETF Flows
US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs broke a two-day losing streak on Monday, attracting $27.29 million in net inflows after registering $145.65 million and $277.50 million of redemptions on Friday and Thursday, respectively, according to SoSoValue. The 11 products now hold roughly $109.08 billion in net assets, equivalent to about 6.78% of Bitcoin’s market value.
Spot Ether ETFs moved in the opposite direction, recording $16.89 million in net outflows. The nine US-listed products manage $13.85 billion in total assets and have drawn $12.07 billion in cumulative inflows since their July 2024 launch.
