Bitcoin and broader risk assets fell into the Asia open on Monday, with a historic plunge in precious metals amplifying volatility and steering traders toward safety.
The total digital asset market value dropped by $250 billion over the weekend, a move that macro investor Raoul Pal says reflects a shortage of US liquidity rather than a crypto-specific problem, according to Cointelegraph.
In early trading, Bitcoin hovered around $76,000 after trading around $75,000.
Bitcoin is revisiting levels last seen during the market fallout from Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs last year.
In comparison, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.57 trillion, both down on the day as metals continued to unwind and equities softened in Asia.
Asian equity markets tracked Wall Street futures lower.
MSCI’s broad Asia-Pacific index outside Japan fell 2.3%, while South Korean shares dropped 4%.
The cautious mood was set by turmoil in commodities.
Silver extended its rout and at one point fell another 6%, following a roughly 30% crash on Friday that forced the unwinding of leveraged positions in what had become a crowded trade.
Gold also remained under pressure after posting its steepest single-day fall since 1983, while silver suffered its worst one-day loss on record.
Oil prices slipped almost 4% after Trump said over the weekend that Iran was “seriously talking” with Washington, a comment traders interpreted as lowering the immediate risk of a US military strike.
Iran remained a key geopolitical swing factor for energy markets.
In digital assets, losses were broad-based.
Bitcoin fell about 3% to $76,218, Ether dropped 7.8% to $2,256, and XRP slid 4.5% to $1.58, leaving the total crypto market capitalisation at $2.57 trillion, down 3.5%.
Derivatives desks moved fast to insure against further downside.
Options open interest in $75,000 bitcoin puts surged, nearly matching once-dominant $100,000 calls, as traders sought protection rather than fresh upside bets, CoinDesk reported.
More than $500 million in leveraged long positions were liquidated over 24 hours in thin weekend conditions, highlighting crypto’s vulnerability to leverage-driven drawdowns.
Liquidity, not crypto, in the spotlight
Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor, argued that the latest downturn reflects a shortage of US liquidity rather than crypto-specific weakness.
“The big narrative is that BTC and crypto are broken. The cycle is over,” Pal said, adding that this cannot be the case because SaaS stocks have fallen in tandem.
Bitcoin and software stocks, both “long-duration assets,” have moved in lockstep, pointing to macro liquidity as the common driver.
“The rally in gold essentially sucked all marginal liquidity out of the system that would have flowed into BTC and SaaS. There was not enough liquidity to support all these assets, so the riskiest got hit.”
Pal also dismissed concerns over Warsh’s nomination, saying, “Warsh will cut rates and do nothing else.” He concluded on a bullish note: “We remain HUGE bulls for 2026 because we know the Trump/Bessent/Warsh playbook.”