There are several macro news pieces pieced together, looking disjointed at first, but when placed alongside the crypto market right now, it makes sense for the price to dump too.
First, there is the matter of Jerome Powell directly attending the debate at the Supreme Court regarding Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss Lisa Cook (the governor of the FED).
This is not a personal drama, but a much larger story: the independent boundaries of the Fed. When the Fed Chairman has to appear in the Supreme Court, it means that the monetary policy story has been pulled directly into the political center. For the financial markets, this is always a sensitive signal, as it touches on the thing the market hates most: institutional uncertainty.
Almost simultaneously, Trump announced new tariffs on the EU and the market's reaction has been seen already. Equity is trembling, risk sentiment is worsening, and altcoins are being hit quite hard. The Altcoin Season Index has dropped to 39, indicating that money is flowing out of the highest-risk asset group.
The notable point I see is: BTC is not crashing accordingly, but alts are. This clearly reflects how money is currently behaving. When political + trade risks resurface, the market tends to hold 'core' assets, reducing exposure to higher-risk parts, and altcoins are always the first to be sold off.
The Altcoin Season Index is decreasing not because 'alts are weak', but because the market is choosing to defend. In the context of the Fed being drawn into political disputes, tariffs returning, and macroeconomic stories becoming more tense, the outflow of money from alts is a very natural reaction.
This is a clear sign that the market is retracting. When macroeconomic factors start to get noisy, altcoins almost always enter a 'defensive' state, even when the project's fundamentals remain unchanged. Is the money prioritizing safety or risk? And with what is happening around the Fed, Trump, tariffs, and geopolitics, the current answer is quite clear.