Here’s why the crypto market is going down today (April 2)

The crypto market is going down today as traders reacted to the rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) outflows. Bitcoin slumped to $66,400, while the market capitalization of all tokens slipped by 2.35% in the last 24 hours to $2.29 trillion.

Crypto market going down as geopolitical tensions rise

Bitcoin and most altcoins are dropping, with Ethena, Dash, Uniswap, Sei, Morpho, Flare, and Avalanche, which tumbled by over 6%.

The ongoing crypto market crash coincided with the performance of European and Asian equities. Data shows that the Euro Stoxx 50 dropped by 1.92%, while the German DAX fell by 1.80%.

Asian stocks also tumbled, with the Hang Seng Index falling by 0.80%. The Nikkei 225 and Kospi indices fell by over 1%. This is happening in the Americas, where futures tied to the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 indices remained in the red.

Crude oil prices continued rising on Thursday, with Brent and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rising to over $108 and $107, respectively.

This surge is happening after President Donald Trump's speech, in which he reiterated that the war will continue for longer. While Trump hinted that the war will end in the next two weeks, analysts believe that it will continue for longer than expected.

As a result, market participants have now embraced a risk-on sentiment, with the CNN Money Fear and Greed Index falling to 10. 

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index also remains in the fear zone as investors anticipate that inflation will remain at an elevated level, pushing the Federal Reserve to maintain high interest rates.

The demand for Bitcoin and crypto ETFs has waned 

The crypto market is falling as demand from investors continues to wane. Data compiled by SoSoValue shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs shed over $173 million on Wednesday. They shed over $296 million last week, bringing the cumulative total net inflows to over $55 billion.

Ethereum ETF outflows rose to $7.10 million on Wednesday after shedding $46 million last month. These funds have lost assets in the last six consecutive months. 

Similarly, spot XRP ETFs lost $1.2 million on Thursday after losing $31 million in assets in the last 30 days. Other top altcoins like Solana, Polkadot, Litecoin, and Dogecoin have not had any substantial inflows in the past few months.

Crypto volume and futures open interest has tumbled 

The crypto market is going down because of the ongoing weak demand in the spot and futures markets. 

Data compiled by CoinGlass shows that the futures open interest dropped by 4.4% in the last 30 days to over $103.7 billion. Bitcoin’s futures open interest has dropped to $46 billion from last year's high of $95 billion.

Crypto futures open interest | Source: CoinGlass

Ethereum’s futures open interest has dropped to $28.3 billion from last year's high of over $60 billion. Other cryptocurrencies have seen weaker futures open interest in the past few months, a trend that accelerated after the large liquidation event in October.

Demand for the crypto market has also continued falling, moving to over $176 billion from last year's high of over $352 billion.