Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin slides as Asia-led sell-off hits altcoins

Market Overview - Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a significant sell-off, dropping to approximately $91,530 from a local high of $93,750, following a failed attempt to break above $94,500 [1] - The altcoin market suffered even more, with notable declines in PENGU and XRP, which fell by 6.5% and 3.5% respectively [1] Price Range and Sentiment - Bitcoin is now trading within December's range of $85,000 to $94,500, continuing a decline that began in October [2] - The recent drop in Bitcoin reflects a rise in risk-off sentiment among traders, coinciding with a decline in U.S. equities, particularly the Nasdaq 100 futures, which fell by 0.32% [2] Derivatives Positioning - Over the past 24 hours, exchanges liquidated crypto futures bets worth $465 million, with long positions making up over 50% of the liquidations [5] - Cumulative open interest (OI) in crypto futures remains steady above $143 billion, the highest in nearly two months, with positive funding rates indicating bullish positioning [5] - OI in specific tokens like XRP, DOGE, SUI, and ZEC fell by 5%-6%, likely due to profit-taking after recent price surges [5] Sector Performance - Memecoins and privacy coins were the worst-performing sectors, with Zcash (ZEC) dropping by 4.5% [5] - The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) fell by 1.5%, which is double the decline of the CoinDesk 5 index that tracks BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA [5] - Despite the downturn, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector saw a total value locked (TVL) increase of 0.17% over the past 24 hours, indicating positive inflows [5] - The "altcoin season" indicator from CoinMarketCap is at 25/100, down from last week's high of 27 but significantly above December's low of 14, suggesting some optimism in the altcoin market [5] - Tron (TRX) was an outlier, showing a gain of 1.2% over the past 24 hours [5]