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Solana, XRP Lead Crypto Drop With U.S. Closed for Presidents' Day

Crypto markets fell with XRP and SOL leading declines among major cryptocurrencies.

Feb 17, 2025, 11:51 a.m.
Bull and bear (Shutterstock)
Crytpocurrency markets declined as the U.S. marked Presidents' Day (Shutterstock)

What to know:

  • Crypto markets fell Monday amid profit-taking and traders eying new catalysts before further positioning.
  • Jupiter’s JUP fell 9% to lead losses among midcap tokens, reeling from its apparent connections to the controversial LIBRA coin.

Crypto markets fell Monday as traders locked in profits and looked for new catalysts to determine positioning while the U.S. observed President’s Day.

Solana (SOL) and XRP slipped 4% to lead losses among major cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin (BTC) dropping 1.1% and BNB Chain’s bnb down 0.5% in the past 24 hours. Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 3%. Both Cardano’s ADA and ether (ETH) rose 2% as of midday in Europe.

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Jupiter’s JUP slid 9% to lead losses among midcap tokens, reeling from its apparent connections to the controversial LIBRA coin. Libra was briefly touted by Argentina's President Javier Milei last week as a project that could help small businesses, but instead crashed in value shortly after issuance, with its operators now facing legal heat.

The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index tracking the largest tokens by market capitalization, fell 1.29%.

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“With no significant crypto-specific catalysts in sight, price action appears to be more macro driven particularly as the correlation between BTC and equities remains largely intact,” QCP Capital said in a broadcast message. “However it is interesting to note that despite the macro uncertainties (tariffs, debt ceiling, inflation etc) and the unpredictability of Trump, crypto implied vols and VIX are still trading at their lows.

“BTC has proven to be relatively unfazed by the recent macro data and OI has not recovered significantly after the January month-end expiry. This suggests that the crypto options market is just waiting on the sidelines for concrete policy changes rather than just pro-crypto rhetoric,” the Singapore-based firm added.

OI, or open interest, is the number outstanding options contracts that have not been closed. Rising open interest represents more money flowing into the options market.

The $110,000 call option listed on Deribit has been the most preferred options play this month, as a CoinDesk analysis noted earlier Monday, while bitcoin itself remains confined in a narrow range below $100,000.
Traders say a preference for BTC stems mainly from its appeal among institutional investors.
“While many altcoins are down 40-60% over the last month or so, Bitcoin's price has proved to be surprisingly resilient, holding at around $96-97k. This is likely because its holder base has shifted towards institutional investors, and this is likely to continue,” Jeff Mei, COO at Taiwan-based crypto exchange BTSE told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

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Exchange Review - March 2025

Exchange Review March 2025

CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.

What to know:

Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.

  • Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
  • Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions. 
  • Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.

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