Bitcoin Struggles to Hold Gains as Market Sees Renewed Selling Pressure

Bitcoin’s latest rally attempt faltered once again on Tuesday, with the leading cryptocurrency failing to maintain momentum above the $116,000 level. After briefly climbing higher, sellers stepped in during U.S. afternoon trading, pulling BTC back below $113,000, mirroring Monday’s price reversal. As of writing, Bitcoin traded around $112,700, marking a nearly 2% decline over the past 24 hours.

The broader crypto market also turned red, with Ether (ETH) sliding 4% to $3,985, falling below the crucial $4,000 mark. Other major altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and Litecoin (LTC) each dipped nearly 4%, while Hedera (HBAR)surrendered roughly half of its earlier ETF-related gains. Notably, the subdued performance came despite the approval of three new U.S. spot crypto ETFs, which had little impact on investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities painted a contrasting picture. The S&P 500 hit an all-time high of 6,900, and the Nasdaq also reached new records, fueled by a 5% surge in Nvidia (NVDA). The chipmaker’s rally brought it close to a $4 trillion market cap, following remarks from CEO Jensen Huang at the GPU Technology Conference.

Crypto-linked stocks, however, mirrored the downturn in digital assets. Mining firms transitioning into AI infrastructure, such as Bitfarms (BITF), CleanSpark (CLSK), HIVE (HIVE), and IREN, each fell between 4%-5%, while Galaxy Digital (GLXY) tumbled 8% amid a $1.15 billion capital raise. MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, slid 3.7%.

Analysts at Bitfinex warned that Bitcoin remains vulnerable to a deeper pullback unless it sustains above the short-term holder cost basis of $113,600, a key level marking potential recovery. Failure to hold could trigger a retracement toward $97,500, the lower end of its current consolidation range.