by Vivian Nguyen
Dec. 5, 2025
Market volatility picked up after the latest U.S. inflation report, prompting investors to trim crypto exposure despite broadly steady underlying price pressures.
Key takeaways
– Bitcoin slipped below $89,000, triggering more than $100 billion in losses across the crypto market.
– U.S. PCE inflation data largely matched expectations, showing steady core inflation pressures.
More than $100 billion was removed from the cryptocurrency market over the past 24 hours as Bitcoin dropped beneath the $89,000 level.
CoinGecko data show total crypto market capitalization fell from about $3.2 trillion to roughly $3.1 trillion during the period. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading near $89,400, down about 3% for the day.
The pullback followed publication of the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which broadly met economists’ forecasts. Headline PCE rose 2.8% year over year, a hair above last month’s 2.7%, while the month-over-month gain held at 0.3%.
Core PCE, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, increased 2.8% year over year — slightly below some forecasts and the prior reading. On a monthly basis, core PCE was unchanged at 0.2%, signaling persistent but contained underlying inflation pressures.
Traders interpreted the data as confirmation that inflation is easing only gradually, prompting a risk-off reaction in crypto markets even though the report did not materially surprise policymakers. The result was a modest sell-off in major tokens and a pullback in overall market valuations.