Market watchers say that major tokens are showing signs of bottoming out, even as geopolitical tensions and tariff fears continue to cloud the near-term outlook. Bitcoin BTC hovered around $105,000 in Asian morning hours Monday, slightly changed in the past 24 hours but down 5% over the past week. Ether ETH, XRP XRP, Solana’s SOL SOL, Cardano’s ADA ADA and dogecoin DOGE showed similar price action in the past 24 hours, with signs of a local bottom near support levels for all these tokens, indicating a potential rebound for intraday traders. “Bitcoin hovers around $105K as investors remain uncertain about short-term macroeconomic events,” said Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research. “Uncertainty around inflation, tariffs, and the US economy slowed bullish trends in crypto, while geopolitical risks have also pushed investors to pull some capital from assets. “We remain optimistic over the long-term outlook for the crypto industry, with more institutions and users onboarding every day,” Ruck added. Trade tensions continue to weigh on risk sentiment. China said Monday that the U.S. had introduced new discriminatory restrictions on AI chip exports and software sales, and vowed to take measures to defend its interests.That backdrop has traders on edge. “Events over the last weekend showed just how quickly cryptocurrencies could react from even a slight escalation in trade war hostilities,” said Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, in a Telegram message to CoinDesk. Mei said traders should monitor announcements from both China and the US, as well as a potential escalation in Russia-Ukraine hostilities and several key US economic data releases this week, including the US trade deficit, unemployment numbers, and remarks from various Fed officials. “Currently macro developments are driving the majority of market movements so it’s difficult to predict, but we do see large institutions continuing to build up their crypto exposure so that’s a positive sign,” Mei added. Meanwhile, investors have been diversifying into tokens like XRP and SOL, even as Bitcoin’s price action has become more aligned with traditional risk assets, which some say adds to the long-term optimism. Kathy Qu, research manager at HashKey Cloud, told CoinDesk on Monday that “trade policy uncertainty drives capital into high-growth tech stocks, but savvy investors are also diversifying further into crypto, particularly TradFi-friendly assets like Bitcoin and XRP, where ETF optimism grows.” She added that staking and DeFi remain bright spots in the market, with real-world asset tokens seeing strong momentum and Ethereum ETFs poised to benefit from the SEC’s staking exemption — a move that’s expected to encourage more institutional participation in the DeFi sector.
