Why Is the Crypto Market Bleeding Today?

The crypto market continued plunging after unfavorable macroeconomic data. It erased the gains that came after the CLARITY Act’s advancement in the U.S. Senate.

Why Is The Crypto Market Down Today?

For context, the crypto market decline follows the release of hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data, leading to another round of selling of major digital assets. Bitcoin price fell below the key $80,000 mark and altcoins followed suit following a decline in investor appetite for risk.

Traders are cautious of the Federal Reserve’s intentions to maintain an elevated interest rate regime for a longer duration. The latest U.S. inflation data shows that the core Producer Price Index (PPI), which strips out food and energy, rose 1% in April 2026.

However, economists had expected a much lesser increase of just 0.3%. The reading was the highest increase on the month since March 2022 and was accompanied by an upward revision of the same month by 0.2%.

Core PPI actually increased 5.2% per year, well exceeding the 4.3% market forecast. The traders saw this as a sign of the Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance in monetary policy. It may put pressure on speculative assets like cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin price is approximately $79,094, according to TradingView. Ethereum also lost 3.34% of its value to $2,221 while XRP price stood at $1.43. Solana fell to $89.13 and Dogecoin slipped to $0.1133. Other top cryptocurrencies were also in the red, with Cardano at $0.2612 and BNB at $672.29.

Crypto ETF Data & PCE Inflation

After on-chain analytics platform Glassnode pointed to strong selling pressure from institutions on Bitcoin spot ETFs, crypto market sentiment weakened even more. Adding to the pressure, market sentiment worsened further after on-chain analytics firm Glassnode pointed to heavy selling pressure from the institutions on spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Glassnode noted on Telegram, “The 7D-SMA of US Spot ETF Netflow dropped to -$88M/day, the largest outflow since mid-February.”

The analytics firm noted that the current round of outflows has been different from February as prices were on the rise then. February outflows were soft. “February’s outflows occurred into price weakness. This wave is selling into strength, with BTC trading near $80k,” Glassnode stated.

The firm added that “institutional participants were using the recovery over the recent days as an exit, not responding to fear.”

Meanwhile, worries about inflation grew because the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation in the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report jumped to its highest level since August 2023.

There was also a further pressure for risk assets and crypto market as Core PCE inflation also increased to its highest point since November 2023. In addition, ongoing geopolitical tensions surrounding the U.S.-Iran conflict could make things worse.