Bitcoin-BTC, Ether Prices crash to lowest since August: Why are Cryptocurrencies down?

Bitcoin and Ether prices have crashed the lowest in the two months. On Monday, BTC price plunged 1.50 per cent or 1,118 and Ethereum price tanked over 5 per cent.

Earlier in the day, Bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, fell by more than 2 per cent to $73,708, the lowest price since August. Ether fell about 5 per cent to $2,223, also the lowest since August.

Why are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrencies Down?

Crypto markets have been shaken in recent sessions by a $6 billion heist at Binance, the world's biggest exchange, and the election to office of high-profile critics in last week's US midterms.

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply in late Sunday trade, with bitcoin and ether touching their lowest levels for more than two months, as investors fretted a Democratic Party-controlled US Congress will toughen regulation on the asset class.

The Trump administration's push to bring novel offshore perpetual futures to the US is raising alarms, Reuters reported citing experts who warned that the products will ​introduce serious new risks to the multitrillion-dollar derivatives market.

Pioneered in non-US crypto markets, perpetual futures, or "perps," trade around the clock and do not expire, meaning investors can hold positions indefinitely. They are ‌usually leveraged, sometimes by as much as 50 times, and are predominantly traded by retail or individual investors.

Crypto perps trading volume reached $61.7 trillion in 2025, up 29 per cent from 2024, according to data provider CryptoQuant, with much of that on big platforms such as Binance and Hyperliquid and based in Asia.

Traditional Wall Street exchanges were alarmed by ​the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's decision in May to formally approve US-listed crypto perps, with Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood and other financial technology firms jumping into the new market.

Some industry executives also say that perps pose market-structure risks. Because they trade continuously, the products require exchanges, clearing ⁠houses, brokers and ​traders to manage positions and meet margin calls around the clock.

That may work in smaller, pre-funded crypto markets, executives said, but it becomes ​more complex in larger markets where participants must move a lot of cash and collateral outside standard banking hours.