Crypto Market Faces Significant Decline After 2024-2025 Surge

The cryptocurrency market has experienced a substantial decline, losing approximately 40% of its value from the peak observed in October 2025. According to Cointelegraph, the Total3 Market Cap, which measures the market capitalization of the entire crypto market excluding Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), saw a significant increase of over 91% following the U.S. Presidential election on November 5, 2024. This surge brought the market cap to a high of $1.16 trillion by December 2024, up from about $600 billion before the election. However, the market later fell to the $900 billion range, with fluctuations continuing until January 2025. On January 18, the Total3 briefly rose to $1.13 trillion, just two days before U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Despite some sideways trading throughout 2025, the market reached a new peak of approximately $1.19 trillion in October 2025, shortly before a significant crash disrupted the crypto sector's upward trend. Currently, the Total3 Market Cap stands at around $713 billion, similar to its level on November 10, 2024, with no clear signs of recovery. Bitcoin and Ether have also seen most of their gains erased. Bitcoin's price dropped over 50% from its peak, reaching a low of about $60,000 before recovering slightly to around $68,000. Similarly, Ether's price fell by about 60% from its all-time high of nearly $5,000 in August 2025. The current market conditions reflect a challenging environment for investors, with sentiment at multi-year lows. The Fear and Greed Index, a tool used to gauge investor sentiment, is at 14, indicating "extreme fear," as reported by CoinMarketCap. This index reached a low of five on February 5, marking the lowest level recorded based on available data. The ongoing market downturn has left investors cautious, with many uncertain about the future trajectory of the cryptocurrency market.