Bitcoin Briefly Slid Below $90,000 for the First Time in 7 Months. Are We Headed for a Crypto Crash?

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) continued to face valuation pressures in Tuesday's trading. While the market-leading cryptocurrency only briefly slipped below the $90,000 per token pricing threshold, it marked the first time since April that it had been below that level.

The cryptocurrency did see a substantial recovery as the day's trading progressed, and its price sits at roughly $92,800 as of this writing. On the other hand, Bitcoin is still down roughly 26% from the lifetime high of roughly $126,000 that it reached in October.

Following recent volatility, the token's gains across 2025's trading have now been entirely erased. With Bitcoin's bullish rally losing steam, should investors be worried about a crypto market crash?

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The crypto market will likely follow Bitcoin's lead

With a market capitalization of approximately $1.86 trillion, Bitcoin continues to be by far the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. For comparison, Ethereum stands as the second largest and has a market cap of approximately $375.3 billion.

Bitcoin appears to be in no danger of losing its status as the market-leading cryptocurrency any time soon. Along those lines, a return to bullish momentum for the token would likely mean a return to positive momentum for the broader crypto market. The opposite is also true.

Bitcoin's token price marched higher through much of this year's trading thanks to a belief that the cryptocurrency would enjoy a more favorable regulatory backdrop under President Donald Trump's administration and that the Federal Reserve would deliver multiple interest rate cuts this year. Regulatory dynamics have shifted in favorable directions for the crypto market and are poised to continue doing so, but the outlook on interest rates and other macroeconomic fronts has become far murkier.

While the Fed has served up two cuts in 2025, the likelihood of another cut at the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has been called into question by macroeconomic uncertainty and some unfavorable new data points. Members of the FOMC will have less data to work with when voting due to information and reports not being compiled during the government shutdown, and inflation trends and questions surrounding the longer-term impact of tariff suggest that the committee has a challenging balancing act ahead with its next move on rates.

Risk factors appear to be converging

In addition to macroeconomic concerns, geopolitical volatility and fears that a valuation bubble in the stock market has formed around artificial intelligence stocks have also impacted valuations for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The combination of risk factors appears to be dampening purchasing momentum among both institutional and retail investors

With the wide range of risk factors currently on the table, there's a real possibility that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could head significantly below their current valuation levels. For reference, the market-leading token fell to a price of roughly $74,400 when President Trump announced his first tariff plans back in April. A rise in potentially destabilizing factors doesn't necessarily mean that a crypto market crash is imminent, and Bitcoin's token price is still up 397% over the last five years, but more volatility could be on the horizon.

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.