Key Takeaways
The crypto market is attempting to stabilize following one of its most brutal liquidation events since February.
As of today, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has recovered slightly to trade near $77,120 after a violent forced-selling cascade wiped out approximately $657 million in leveraged long positions over the previous 48 hours.
Although the broader crypto market is not experiencing a major breakout, total market capitalization has climbed roughly 0.24%.
Here is why and what could be next for Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market.
Why the Crypto Market Stopped Falling
The biggest reason markets stabilized today is largely technical.
On May 18, escalating geopolitical tensions intensified after US President Donald Trump posted blunt warnings regarding possible military action involving Iran.
That development pushed crude oil prices back above $100 per barrel and triggered widespread panic across global risk markets.
Bitcoin quickly lost the critical $77,000 level during the selloff, triggering cascading liquidations, with roughly 89% of wiped-out leverage coming from long positions.
Historically, heavily one-sided liquidation events often mark temporary exhaustion points for sellers, as overleveraged positions are forcibly removed from the market.
However, as of today, Trump said that he has called it off following an appeal from Arab leaders.
Today’s modest rebound appears to reflect a short-term “sigh of relief” as immediate margin-call pressure finally begins cooling down.
Bitcoin Dominance Rises
Ronin (RON) Is Leading the Entire Market
While Bitcoin’s price remains range-bound, Ronin (RON) has emerged as the strongest-performing major altcoin.
RON surged around 30% after its recent migration into an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup built using Optimism’s OP Stack architecture.
However, the technical migration is only part of the story. Ronin also introduced one of the most aggressive tokenomics restructurings in crypto:
- Annual inflation collapsed from over 20% to under 1%.
- Yearly emissions dropped from roughly 45 million RON to only 5 million.
- Approximately 90 million staked RON was moved into treasury reserves.
This created an immediate supply-side shock that rapidly accelerated buy-side momentum.
Ondo Finance Becomes Top 100 Biggest Winner
Outside of Ronin and Bitcoin, Ondo Finance (ONDO) is the strongest-performing altcoin in the top 100.
ONDO surged more than 14% over the last 24 hours, trading near $0.39, as investors aggressively rotate toward tokenized Treasury exposure.
According to CCN’s findings, this trend is directly connected to soaring government bond yields:
- U.S. 10-year Treasury yield: 4.59%
- U.S. 30-year Treasury yield: 5.12%
As traditional sovereign debt yields climb to multi-year highs, investors are increasingly using RWA protocols to capture those returns directly on-chain.
Ondo’s current breakout attempt above descending wedge resistance reflects growing institutional interest in tokenized yield infrastructure.
ONDO Price Prediction
On the daily chart, ONDO is attempting a bullish reversal after breaking out of the descending channel that controlled price action through the second half of May.
The breakout from the channel near the $0.34 region triggered a move toward the 0.618 Fibonacci resistance at $0.40. However, ONDO’s price is now facing short-term rejection around the zone.
That would likely allow fundamentally strong altcoins, especially those benefiting from supply-side tokenomics upgrades and real-world utility narratives, to continue decoupling from broader macro weakness.
For now, however, the crypto market remains in a fragile balancing act between improving on-chain fundamentals and one of the harshest global liquidity environments in years.
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Victor Olanrewaju is a crypto analyst and reporter at CCN with deep roots in on-chain research and technical analysis. His crypto journey began in 2017, but it was the 2020 Uniswap airdrop that sparked a full-time pivot into the space.
With a foundation in copywriting, Victor honed his craft creating high-converting content for leading crypto brokers — most notably an XRP price prediction that ranked #1 on Google during the 2021 bull run.
He later joined AMBCrypto in 2022, where he combined storytelling with technical and on-chain analysis to cover key market narratives.
In 2024, he expanded his expertise at BeInCrypto, collaborating with analysts and using tools like Glassnode, Santiment, and IntoTheBlock to break down Bitcoin and altcoin trends.
At CCN, Victor covers the top cryptocurrencies, memecoins, macro shifts, blending real-time insights with deep-dive metrics.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Ibadan, equipping him to simplify complex data for a wide audience. Follow his work or connect on LinkedIn or X.
