At first glance Bitcoin [BTC] The monthly performance makes this concern seem somewhat exaggerated. Despite the ongoing macro FUD, risky assets finished in the green in March and April, and May is following a similar path, with total cryptocurrency market capitalization still up about 3% month to date.
Against the current macro backdrop, this setup could indicate that investors are increasingly using crypto as a hedge.
But is sentiment finally starting to crack?
On May 15, approximately $60 billion left the crypto market. By itself, the step doesn’t look dramatic.
But compared to the nearly $1 trillion wiped out across the three major U.S. stock indexes, the selloff is starting to look less like a coincidence and more like a synchronized market reset.
What followed next was a classic liquidation cascade.
According to CoinGlass, approximately $415 million in crypto positions were liquidated, with nearly 90% of that coming from long traders. From a technical perspective, this was no surprise.
Bitcoin had been stuck in a tight range near $80,000 for more than four weeks. Extensive consolidation typically leads to leveraged positioning, and when volatility eventually rises, it tends to flush out overexposed bulls first.
On the face of it, of course, the combination of $60 billion in outflows and heavy liquidations reads like a textbook reset, a typical weak-handed shakeout that clears excess debt before a potential recovery can take place.
But according to AMBCrypto, this is where the idea of a ‘synchronized’ market reset starts to come into focus.
Crypto correction deepens as macro stress increases
A market-wide crash rarely happens by accident. More often, it acts as an early warning sign.
In this case, the crypto outflow, which has accompanied the disappearance of more than $1 trillion from the US stock market, suggests that the correction is not just about digital assets.
Instead, it points to a broader macro-driven reset, which begs the key question: What’s actually behind this shift in risk sentiment?
As the chart below shows, tensions in the bond market are increasing. Yields on 10-year US Treasury bonds have now risen above 4.55% for the first time since May 2025.
From a macro perspective, rising rates generally indicate tighter financial conditions, such as rising borrowing costs, costlier liquidity and declining risk appetite for both equities and cryptocurrencies.
Against this backdrop, the transition to Fed chairman seems ill-timed.
The recent market movement in particular clearly emphasizes this setup. Interest rates on both 10- and 30-year government bonds are rising read as a signal of macrostress building under the American economy.
This obviously indicates that the pullback goes beyond a liquidation reset and is an early sign of a broader risk phase.
Final summary
- Rising returns and stock losses are driving a broader risk shift in cryptocurrencies and stocks.
- The pullback now looks more like a macro-driven crash than just a liquidation.