Asia Morning Briefing: BTC Market Stress Reveals a New Crypto Order

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Asia Morning Briefing: BTC Market Stress Reveals a New Crypto Order Market observers note stable XRP/BTC and ETH/BTC ranges and an unusually balanced top-20 ranking, signaling fundamentals-driven dispersion rather than a broad alt season. By Sam Reynolds Nov 19, 2025, 2:42 a.m. (Getty Images/Unsplash+) What to know : Bitcoin's recent slide under $90,000 did not trigger the usual deep correction behavior, indicating a shift from a liquidity-driven to a fundamentals-driven market. Tokens with clear utility, staking, or institutional demand are maintaining their value, while speculative assets face pressure. Asia-Pacific markets showed mixed results, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.5% despite Wall Street's tech-led declines. Good Morning, Asia. Here's what's making news in the markets: Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas. Bitcoin’s slide under $90,000 looked like the start of a broad risk-off move, yet the market did not behave like it usually does in a deep BTC correction. Cross pairs stayed firm, and alt rankings barely budged. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . In a note to CoinDesk, Enflux, a Singapore-based market maker, said the lack of price action that typically occurs during a deep BTC correction is the clearest sign that crypto is shifting from a liquidity-driven market to a fundamentals-driven one. “Majors without clear revenue, utility, or institutional relevance are down 60 to 80 percent,” the firm wrote. “Traditional alt seasons, the 2017 style vertical rotations or the 2021 reflexive leverage cycles, depended on narratives, excess liquidity, and retail mania. Most of this doesn’t exist on scale in this bull market.” Enflux also noted that tokens tied to staking, ETFs, or real-world usage are holding up. Bizantine Capital’s March Zheng said he is seeing the same dynamic. “We are watching instead the relative ranking positions of the top twenty coins, and how they are moving in relation to bitcoin’s market cap,” he said. “So far, the range has been quite balanced, as generally heavy Bitcoin corrections see significant price degrades in the alts.” Zheng believes that stability suggests the market is not entering a classic alt season and is instead showing signs of a more orderly structure. The signals point to a market that is gradually separating durable assets from speculative beta. Tokens with identifiable users, revenue, or institutional demand continue to hold their ground, while weaker majors absorb most of the stress. The question is, will this thesis of fundamentals over broad speculative rotations hold? Market Movement BTC: Bitcoin is trading around $92,234 after recovering from its slide below $90,000 earlier this week. 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