When Giants Falter: Why Major Cryptos Capitulate Under Selling Pressure

The crypto market is entering a critical inflection point as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP face mounting bearish pressure that extends far beyond routine profit-taking. What began as a pullback has morphed into a test of structural conviction, with major support levels now under siege. The question is no longer whether these assets can recover—it’s whether the current technical framework can contain the selling without triggering cascading liquidations.

The Breakdown Blueprint: Reading Market Capitulation

Bitcoin’s descent through the $90,000 psychological barrier signals more than just technical weakness; it represents capitulation from intermediate-term holders who built positions above that level. The latest data shows BTC trading around $92.75K with modest 24-hour losses, but the week’s trajectory tells a grimmer story. The asset’s puncture through the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $94,253—calculated from the April bottom of $74,508 to October’s $126,299 peak—eliminated a critical anchor point that traders have relied on for directional guidance.

What’s particularly troubling is the momentum backdrop. The daily RSI reading has compressed to dangerous extremes (23 levels observed this week), a condition that reflects pure emotional capitulation rather than rational price discovery. While oversold bounces are common, they rarely signal bottoms—they merely indicate that sentiment has reached maximum despair.

The $85,000 to $80,000 zone now represents the battle line between correction and structural reversal. Should support crumble here, we’d be looking at the kind of breakdown that triggers algorithmic selling cascades and forced liquidations, transforming a bearish week into a bear market narrative.

Ethereum’s Consolidation Trap

Ethereum’s collapse carries different implications than Bitcoin’s decline. Where BTC is wrestling with psychological levels, ETH faces a geometric problem: it lost the $3,017 consolidation floor that had anchored trading ranges over recent weeks. Now trading near $3.25K with modest intraday gains, the recovery attempt feels fragile against the week’s heavy selling.

The prior rejection at $3,592 (a key trendline resistance) set the stage, but Thursday’s close below $3,017 was the real inflection. That level’s breach transforms accumulated buyer support into fresh seller resistance—traders who accumulated at lower portions of the range are now underwater, likely adding to selling pressure as they capitulate their positions.

If ETH cannot establish meaningful bids near $2,749 (the 61.8% Fibonacci defense), the narrative shifts materially. The path lower opens toward zones where value hunters traditionally accumulate, but such zones are only compelling if buyers show conviction. Until $3,017 is reclaimed as support, every attempted rally faces overhead supply from exhausted longs exiting.

XRP’s Thin Support Structure

XRP exhibits the most fragile technical setup among the three. A rejection from the 50-day exponential moving average at $2.47 triggered the initial decline, but the real damage came from capitulation through the $2.00 psychological floor. Now near $2.29 with slight intraday strength, XRP shows RSI readings at 32—deeply oversold by conventional metrics.

The 10% weekly decline was the steepest among major cryptos, and for good reason: XRP lacks the institutional narrative that supports Bitcoin and Ethereum. When markets capitulate to fear, assets with thinner order books and less institutional participation bleed harder and faster.

That said, oversold RSI readings hint at potential relief rallies. Should buying pressure materialize, $2.35 would offer modest resistance before the $2.47 50-day EMA becomes the real hurdle. Beyond that, $2.65-$2.80 represents exhaustion recovery levels. But until such bounces prove durable, the risk-to-reward for fresh shorting has deteriorated significantly.

What Traders Should Watch

The real risk isn’t another 5% drop—it’s the cascading nature of crypto capitulation. When major players begin exiting simultaneously, algorithmic triggers compound moves. Bitcoin breaking $85,000 cleanly (on high volume) would likely accelerate Ethereum’s descent and amplify XRP’s bleeding.

Conversely, if buyers can successfully defend the $2,749 Ethereum level or the $1.77 floor for XRP, we’d see the first genuine signs that capitulation has exhausted itself. Volume exhaustion and intraday reversals become the tells that bottoms are forming rather than cascades continuing.

Risk management matters most now. Traders holding positions should establish clear stop levels rather than hoping for V-shaped recoveries. The oversold readings are informative but not predictive—they mean the market is exhausted, not that a bottom is imminent.