Leading cryptocurrencies eked out gains on Monday, even as President Donald Trump denied any plans of pausing tariffs amid the market rout.

What Happened: Bitcoin rose to an intraday high of $81,000 before stabilizing in the $79,000 zone. Ethereum fluctuated between $1,500 and $1,600 a day after experiencing its worst drop since October 2023.

The capital rotation from altcoins to Bitcoin continued, as the apex cryptocurrency's market dominance rose to 62.7%, the highest since January 2021.

Prolific Bitcoin hoarder Strategy Inc. MSTR paused purchases last week, citing a lack of participation in its equity issuance program.

Nearly $973 million was liquidated from the market in the last 24 hours, with $632 million in longs erased.

Bitcoin's Open Interest fell 3.63% in the last 24 hours. A drop in OI, coming alongside a rise in prices, indicated the closing of short positions.

Moreover, Bitcoin's Long/Short ratio rose above 1, suggesting that the majority of the traders were betting on BTC's price increase.

The market sentiment remained in "Extreme Fear" mode," according to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.

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The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.52 trillion, marking a  1.75% increase in the last 24 hours.

The stock slide continued on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked 349.26 points, or 0.91%, to end at 37,965.60. The S&P 500 fell 0.23%, ending at 5,062.25. In a silver lining, the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite inched 0.1% higher to end the session at 15,603.26.

The market experienced wild volatility in the early hours as media reports of Trump mulling a 90-day tariff freeze sparked a brief rise. However, major averages fell again once the White House dismissed the reports as untrue.

Later in the day, Trump reiterated that the administration was "not looking" to pause tariffs despite the ongoing market rout.

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Analyst Notes: Popular blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant highlighted that most of Ethereum holders were in losses as the price has dipped below $2,200, the average cost basis.

"The next major support level is around $1,290, the average cost basis of whales holding over 100,000 Ethereum," CryptoQuant added.

Another well-known research firm, Santiment, projected an "immediate bullish explosion" in the cryptocurrency market should the tariff landscape change, resulting in reduced or eliminated tariffs between countries.

Santiment also noted that Bitcoin’s crowd sentiment has turned slightly positive again, while Ethereum’s sentiment was returning to neutral territory over willingness by countries to negotiate with the U.S. on tariffs.

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