Bitcoin dropped on Tuesday, deepening its recent slide and losing half its value since its record peak in October, as uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff policy dampened investor appetite for riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies.
By 12:56 GMT, Bitcoin was down 2.48 percent at $63,028 after touching an intraday low of $62,758.2 earlier in the session.
The broader crypto market also remained under pressure, with both institutional and retail investors continuing to trim their positions. Rising geopolitical tensions involving Iran, along with an artificial intelligence-driven selloff on Wall Street, further weighed on market sentiment.
Investor demand remains subdued
Tuesday’s decline left Bitcoin trading roughly 50 percent below its early-October record of $126,272. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has remained in a prolonged slump since that peak, with fresh U.S. regulatory steps and continued buying by its biggest corporate holder, Strategy, failing to revive market confidence.
On Monday, Strategy revealed it had purchased another 592 Bitcoin. The firm is currently sitting on substantial unrealized losses, as Bitcoin is trading below its average acquisition cost of $76,020.
Data from CryptoQuant and Coinglass also indicated that major holders, commonly referred to as “whales,” have continued transferring significant amounts of Bitcoin to exchanges, a move that typically signals intentions to sell.
Meanwhile, demand from both institutional and retail investors appears subdued. According to Glassnode, institutional investors recorded a fifth straight week of outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds as of Monday.
U.S. trade policy uncertainty weighs on Bitcoin
Bitcoin’s latest slide was largely fueled by renewed uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy, after the Supreme Court invalidated much of President Donald Trump’s tariff program.
In response, Trump announced a 15 percent blanket tariff under a separate legal authority, although the duties initially came into force at 10 percent at midnight on Tuesday.
Trump now faces mounting legal hurdles in implementing and increasing tariffs, but has shown little indication of scaling back his trade agenda. He also warned that countries seeking to revisit recently negotiated trade agreements with Washington could face steeper levies.
Although cryptocurrencies are not directly impacted by trade measures, they tend to react sharply to changes in overall market sentiment due to their speculative nature. The uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs triggered a broader wave of risk aversion across global financial markets.
The broader crypto market moved lower alongside Bitcoin on Tuesday, as coins continued to struggle for a rebound.
The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, declined 1.72 percent to $1,823.60, hovering near its early-February lows.
XRP and BNB dropped over 4 percent, while Cardano and Solana fell 5.74 percent and 4.88 percent, respectively.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin slid 5.85 percent, whereas $TRUMP posted a loss of 3.32 percent.
