Why Is Crypto Down Today? – August 22, 2025: The Market Rollercoaster Explained
Crypto markets take a nosedive as regulatory uncertainty and macroeconomic pressures collide—just another Thursday in digital asset land.
Regulatory Whiplash Strikes Again
Fresh rumblings from global watchdogs sent shockwaves through trading desks worldwide. The usual suspects—vague policy statements and enforcement theatrics—triggered automated sell-offs faster than you can say 'decentralization.'
Macro Headwinds Bite Hard
Traditional finance woes spilled into crypto like cheap coffee on a trading terminal. Rising yields, inflation jitters, and that classic institutional 'risk-off' mood left digital assets bleeding alongside tech stocks.
Liquidity Crunch Amplifies Pain
Thin order books magnified the slide as market makers pulled quotes. Retail panic selling met algorithmic liquidations—a perfect storm of inefficient price discovery that would make any CFA charterholder smirk.
Not All Doom and Gloom
Seasoned hodlers barely blinked while leverage junkies got rekt. Smart money quietly accumulated positions, because nothing says 'opportunity' like a market overreacting to regulatory theater and macro noise. Same script, different cycle—welcome to crypto.
Crypto Winners & Losers
At the time of writing, all top 10 coins per market capitalization have decreased over the past 24 hours.
fell 0.7% and below $113,000, now standing at $112,960.
At the same time,is down by 0.2%, meaning it’s largely unchanged, now trading at $4,293.
decreased the most today. It’s down by 2.6% to the price of $0.2157.
It’s followed by,, and, which are down 1.8% each.
As for the top 100 coins,appreciated the most for the second day in a row. It’s up by 23% to $234.
is next, with a rise of 4.1%, currently changing hands at $18.63.
On the other hand,fell the most: 4% to $8.43.
Next up is, with a drop of 2.8% to the price of $2.44.
Meanwhile,co-founder Arthur Hayes argued that ethereum could hit $20,000. “I think ETH goes $10,000 to $20,000 before the end of the cycle,” he said. “Once it’s broken through, then you know there’s a gap of air to the upside.”
He also said that Solana would probably not surpass Ethereum in the bull run but that it would be a “bigger asset move.”
Arthur Hayes just admitted he bought back ETH because “the chart says it’s going higher.”
He sees Ethereum running up to $20K this cycle.
When asked $ETH vs $SOL?
He’s overweight $ETH
pic.twitter.com/Yd3q1t0aCe
‘Near-Term Volatility is Likely, But Long-Term Outlook Remains Bullish’
James Toledano, Chief Operating Officer at, noted that the event risk is high ahead of the US Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s remarks at Jackson Hole today.
“It is important to note that prices in the U.S. appear to be rising at a very fast pace, while total inflation remains steady.” Per Toledano, “this could scupper any chances of a Fed rate cut – despite the pressure on Powell from President [Donald] Trump.”
Toledano continued:
“Right now, the markets appear to be treating the volatility as a healthy correction rather than a trend reversal, but many are bracing for choppier waters. All-in-all, I think we should expect continued volatility – positioning may remain defensive through the speech, followed by either renewed direction or status quo afterwards.”
Moreover, while ETFs saw million in outflows over the past few days, showing short-term selling pressure, “beneath the surface, institutional adoption is most definitely accelerating—whales are adding to positions, and banks are exploring Ethereum-based products,” Toledao says.
“Many investors seem to view current price levels, even down to $3.9K, as an attractive entry point, given the hopes of ETH passing $5K in the short term. While near-term volatility is likely, the long-term outlook remains bullish, with strong fundamentals and real-world use cases supporting the possibility of a push toward new highs,” he concludes.
According to Glassnode, several signals highlight elevated leverage, profit-taking, and speculative intensity. These, the analysts say, are signs of historically mature market phases. That said, given unavoidable idiosyncrasies, there is no guarantee that Bitcoin and the market in general will “conform to a fixed temporal blueprint.”
The report found that capital inflows into bitcoin are showing signs of fatigue. The demand lessened even with the new ATH. “This slowing appetite has coincided with a surge in speculative positioning, as open interest across major altcoins briefly reached a record high of $60B before correcting with a -$2.5B decline.”
2- To assess
Currently, their SOPR is hovering around 0.96–1.01, signaling mild loss realization. If pressure builds, local bottoms often FORM when this group capitulates, typically when SOPR drops below ~0.9.
Chart… pic.twitter.com/3JeIU1vuPc
Levels & Events to Watch Next
At the time of writing on Thursday morning, BTC trades at $112,960. It began the day with the intraday high of $113,949, but was unable to cross the $114,000 mark. It attempted to do so one more time before plunging to the intraday low of $112,023.
It has recovered somewhat since, but the price may continue to fall below the intraday low and towards $108,000.
BTC is now 9% away from its previous all-time high of $124,128, recorded a week ago.
Ethereum is currently trading at $4,293. It saw a very choppy trading day. The lowest point it reached in this period was $4,211, while the highest was $4,318.
Notably, the coin continues to MOVE between red and green zones. At the moment, it’s attempting to make a recovery. It’s still up 16% in the 1-month period.
Furthermore, the crypto market sentiment dropped again, and it’s now nearing the fear zone. The crypto fear and greed index fell from 50 yesterday to 46 today.
This shows a clear rise in fear, caution, and bearish sentiment among investors.
Meanwhile, as of 21 August, the US BTC spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded a fifth day of negative flows, with $194.32 million.
Grayscale and Franklin saw inflows of less than $5 million each, while,, andrecorded outflows. The highest of these is BlackRock’s $127.49 million.
On the other hand, the US ETH ETFs saw positive flows of $287.61 million. With this, it broke the latest outflow streak.
Six of the nine funds saw inflows.andtook in $233.59 million and $28.53 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, European officials have hastened their digital euro plans after Washington passed a stablecoin law that threatens the EU’s competitive edge.
Officials are now reportedly debating whether a digital euro should run on a public blockchain such as Ethereum or Solana.
BREAKING: E.U. CONSIDERING RUNNING DIGITAL EURO ON A PUBLIC BLOCKCHAIN SUCH AS solana OR ETHEREUM RATHER THAN A PRIVATE ONE DUE TO CONCERN OVER COMPETITIVENESS – PER FT SOURCES pic.twitter.com/WTHL040BvD
— DEGEN NEWS (@DegenerateNews) August 22, 2025Quick FAQ
The crypto and stock markets are both down in their respective trading periods. By Tuesday’s closing time, thewas down by 0.4%, thedecreased by 0.46%, and thefell by 0.34%. Investors in both markets are awaiting the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech today, specifically the interest rate decision.
For now, the dips may continue. While many analysts argue that there’s still room for the crypto market to rally again, the prices could decrease further in the short term.
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