Bitcoin ended February 2, 2025 at $97,688.98 in CoinMarketCap’s historical snapshot, down 2.95% over the provider’s displayed 24-hour window. The more consequential signal was beneath that headline price: major alternative cryptoassets fell substantially faster.
Ether was down 8.01%, XRP lost 10.56% and dogecoin declined 13.25%. Solana fell 4.99%, BNB dropped 5.48% and cardano lost 10.71%. Among the non-stablecoin assets ranked in CoinMarketCap’s top nine, bitcoin recorded the smallest 24-hour decline.
That cross-sectional result makes February 2 a distinct market checkpoint. It captures the unequal weekend selloff before bitcoin’s deeper February 3 low and subsequent rebound, rather than retelling the following date’s reversal.
The end-of-day market record
CoinMarketCap listed ether at $2,868.69, XRP at $2.5798, solana at $203.12, BNB at $617.60, dogecoin at $0.2675 and cardano at $0.8017. Tether and USDC remained close to one dollar in the same table, but their stability mechanisms make their percentage changes unsuitable for comparison with unbacked volatile assets.
Relative to bitcoin’s 2.95% decline, ether underperformed by 5.06 percentage points, XRP by 7.61 points and dogecoin by 10.30 points. Those are Coinburn calculations subtracting the displayed bitcoin return from each asset’s displayed return. They do not measure losses in dollars, liquidation totals or changes in an investor’s portfolio.
The seven-day fields showed that the weakness was not confined to one measurement window. Bitcoin was down 4.86% over seven days, compared with 11.35% for ether, 14.75% for XRP, 15.68% for solana and 20.46% for dogecoin.
Tariff uncertainty reached the always-open market
The snapshot followed the White House’s February 1 announcement of additional tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. The announced rates were 25% for most Canadian and Mexican imports, 10% for Canadian energy resources and 10% for Chinese imports.
Contemporaneous financial reporting connected the cryptocurrency selloff with concern that a trade conflict could weaken growth, increase inflation pressure and reduce demand for risk-sensitive assets. That interpretation was plausible because cryptocurrency continued trading while U.S. cash equity and Treasury markets were closed for the weekend.
The timing nevertheless does not prove that the tariff announcement caused every decline. Crypto markets were also processing asset-specific positioning, leverage, liquidity and expectations created by the strong post-election rally. The historical snapshot contains prices and returns, not trader motives.
What the divergence meant
Bitcoin’s relative resilience did not make it a safe haven on February 2. Its price and reported market capitalization both declined over the displayed 24-hour window. The narrower conclusion is that market participants reduced exposure more aggressively in several assets generally treated as higher risk.
That distinction mattered because a broad statement that “crypto fell” conceals substantial variation. At CoinMarketCap’s UTC cutoff, ether’s percentage loss was about 2.7 times bitcoin’s, while dogecoin’s was roughly 4.5 times as large. These ratios describe the magnitudes of the displayed percentage changes; they do not predict recovery speed or long-term performance.
Measurement limits and chronology
CoinMarketCap says it records market data in UTC and treats 23:59 UTC as the daily close. Its historical page is an aggregate across covered markets, not a regulated consolidated tape or an executable quote on every exchange. The displayed 24-hour changes are provider calculations, and reported volumes may reflect varying venue coverage and data quality.
The February 2 record therefore establishes an end-of-day price hierarchy and relative selloff, not one universal closing auction. It also stops at that cutoff. Bitcoin’s later overnight low, the February 3 tariff pauses and the ensuing rebound belong to the next date’s chronology and are not used to redefine what the February 2 snapshot showed.
The complete source packet and revision history are retained with the newsroom record.
Automated systems may have assisted with source organization and drafting. Coinburn is accountable for the published text and maintains a revision record.
This article provides news and analysis, not investment, legal or tax advice. Digital assets are volatile and may result in total loss.