The Crypto Market Is Struggling to Keep the Momentum It Had Built Following Donald Trump’s Election in November 2024

Bitcoin surged by 60%, peaking in January 2024, but has since lost over 12% of these gains. Most major cryptocurrencies are down, with Solana particularly spooked by current events, down over 5% in the past 24 hours.

The crypto market continues to experience a downturn, with Bitcoin losing over 12% of the gains it made following Donald Trump’s election in November 2024.

After surging by 60% post-election, Bitcoin has seen a decline of over 12% from its January 2024 peak. The BTC price currently stands at US$95,139 (AU$149,902).

Most major cryptocurrencies are down, with Solana particularly affected by recent events. SOL has dropped over 5% in the past 24 hours.

The Fear & Greed Index has shifted to Fear, dropping to 44 this month from Extreme Greed last month.

Anticipation of Trump’s tariffs and broader economic policies, combined with reduced expectations for further US rate cuts, are key factors contributing to the market fear.

Other elements include memecoins and developments with LIBRA and FTX.

Following the TRUMP memecoin saga and other stunts, sentiment around memecoins has turned negative.

Meanwhile, the LIBRA rug pull scandal continues to expand, with fresh allegations emerging.

According to Galaxy Research, the waning interest in memecoins could negatively impact demand for Solana, a major altcoin that has been driving broader crypto growth.

Argentine President Javier Milei, who previously tweeted about LIBRA, faces impeachment threats over his promotion of the token.

After surging to a market cap of roughly US$4.5 billion (AU$7.09 billion), LIBRA went on to lose over 90% of its value.

In a report by Bloomberg, citing La Nacion newspaper and crypto site CoinDesk, Hayden Davis, who was involved in the development and launch of LIBRA, TRUMP and MELANIA (Trump’s wife’s own memecoin), boasted about his role.

The reports allege that he was paying Milei’s sister Karina to influence the president’s decision-making, though both Hayden and Milei have denied any wrongdoing.

In an interview with YouTuber and crypto sleuth Coffeezilla, Hayden stated that the whole thing was not a rug pull, although he acknowledged that the team did engage in sniping.

Describing sniping as a technique to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at the precise moment to maximise profits, often involving insider trading and the use of bots, Hayden explained that they were sniping "hard."

Another event with the potential to impact the market is the sale of the FTX bankruptcy estate.

In a recent post, FTX announced that it will begin the creditor repayment program, which could total more than US$16 billion (AU$25.2 billion).

Small claim holders have already started receiving their money back this Tuesday.

While the reimbursements are good news, most investors will still experience losses, as the repayments are based on prices at the time of the FTX collapse.

This could be a significant blow to many, considering that BTC was trading around US$20k at the time, a far cry from today’s prices.

It remains to be seen how much of this liquidity will be reinvested in crypto.