25 May 2026: Bitcoin Holds at $77K on a Cautious Bank Holiday Morning

Bitcoin is holding near $77,000 on a quiet Bank Holiday Monday morning, with the crypto market’s total value sitting at around $2.66 trillion and the Fear and Greed Index firmly in Fear territory at 30. UK equity markets are closed today, leaving cryptocurrency as the main source of live price action for British investors checking in over the long weekend.

The overall picture is cautious rather than alarmed. Total cryptocurrency market capitalisation stands at approximately $2.66 trillion, with Bitcoin dominance at around 58%. When dominance climbs like this, it usually signals investors are consolidating into Bitcoin rather than spreading capital across smaller coins, which is typical during periods of uncertainty. The Fear and Greed Index, which combines price momentum, trading volume, social sentiment, and survey data into a single score between 0 and 100, sits at 30. That falls into Fear territory, indicating caution is the dominant mood without crossing into the kind of panic reading that has sometimes preceded sharp recoveries.

Bitcoin is trading at around $77,300 (roughly £57,300), up just under 1% over the past 24 hours, as it attempts to hold the $77,000 level following Sunday evening’s stalled rally.

Sunday’s session briefly pushed towards $78,000 before running into selling pressure, and this morning’s marginal gain suggests the market has found a temporary floor rather than a new base to build from. Bitcoin dominance above 58% confirms that most of the buying across crypto right now is concentrated in Bitcoin rather than spreading to altcoins, which is typical when investors are cautious but not ready to exit the asset class entirely.

For UK investors, Bitcoin at around £57,300 represents a significant discount from the February 2025 peaks above £75,000. The decline from those highs has been gradual rather than catastrophic, which suggests a market digesting a reset in expectations rather than a collapse in underlying demand. The key level to watch today is whether Bitcoin can hold above $77,000 as US markets open this afternoon. A close above that level would suggest buyers are stepping in; a close below it would confirm the stall from Sunday is extending into the new week.

Ethereum is trading at around $2,100 (approximately £1,560), down about half a percent over the past 24 hours, underperforming Bitcoin in a session where dominance is working against the broader altcoin market.

Ethereum’s relative weakness is not unusual in this kind of environment. When Bitcoin dominance rises, capital tends to consolidate into the most liquid asset rather than flow into the next tier. Ethereum’s market capitalisation of roughly $254 billion keeps it the second-largest cryptocurrency by a wide margin, but the $1.55 trillion gap between it and Bitcoin underlines how concentrated the market’s weight remains at the top. The near-term question for Ethereum is whether $2,000 continues to act as a floor. Previous tests of that level in recent months have attracted enough buying to prevent a deeper move, and if Bitcoin stabilises today, Ethereum is likely to follow. Readers looking for background on how Ethereum works can find a plain-English explanation in Cristoniq’s Crypto Decoded series.

Solana is trading at around $85.80 (roughly £63.60), almost flat over the past 24 hours, making it one of the steadier performers in this morning’s session.

Flat performance in a cautious market is not always a bad sign. Solana has been among the more volatile assets in the top ten over recent months, so a quiet Bank Holiday morning can indicate that selling pressure has eased, even without a new catalyst to drive it higher. Its market capitalisation of around $49.5 billion keeps it in the top five, but at that scale, individual session moves are driven more by the mood across the broader market than by Solana-specific news. Today’s near-flat performance is best read as a wait-and-see posture.

XRP is trading at $1.35 (around £1.005), down just under 0.3% over the past 24 hours, holding a level that has served as a rough floor across several recent sessions.

XRP’s proximity to £1.00 will be noted by UK investors who track it in sterling terms. The coin’s price continues to be influenced more by Ripple-specific regulatory and partnership developments than by broader market sentiment. This morning, with no fresh Ripple news, the marginal dip reflects general caution rather than anything XRP-specific. For context on the broader regulatory backdrop affecting assets like XRP, last night’s Cristoniq Crypto Daily covered the SEC’s delay on tokenised product exemptions in detail.

The story beneath this morning’s price action is the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to delay guidance on tokenised stock products, reported last night. The delay extends the review period for applications that had been expected to receive regulatory clarity last week. Tokenised stocks are blockchain-based representations of shares in listed companies, and they have attracted growing interest from platforms including Robinhood, which has already launched products of this type for European users. The appeal is clear: if you can trade a token tracking a company’s share price on a crypto exchange at any hour of the day, the friction between traditional markets and the crypto ecosystem shrinks significantly.

For the broader crypto market, the SEC delay is a timing signal rather than a crisis. Markets had begun to price in a more constructive regulatory environment in the United States following a shift in tone from the new administration earlier this year. A delay is not a rejection, but it is a reminder that the distance between political intent and regulatory implementation is longer than traders tend to assume. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has been watching US developments closely, and any shift in the American framework is likely to inform how the FCA approaches similar products here.

Today’s most immediate thing to watch is whether Bitcoin can hold $77,000 through the Bank Holiday session. With European equity markets partially closed, liquidity in crypto will be thinner than usual for the UK morning window, which means price moves can be exaggerated in either direction. A sharp move today on low volume should be read with that context in mind rather than treated as a definitive signal for the week ahead.

Later in the week, attention will shift to US consumer confidence data on Tuesday and the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, due on Friday. Crypto markets have become increasingly sensitive to US inflation data over the past two years, because inflation shapes expectations around interest rates, and higher rates tend to put pressure on risk assets including Bitcoin. A significant surprise in either direction would likely reach crypto markets quickly.

The SEC’s revised timeline on tokenised stock exemptions is also worth tracking. The regulator has not given a specific new date, so markets will be watching for signals in public SEC commentary this week. A concrete timeline, even a longer one, would be received more constructively than continued silence. Finally, watch Bitcoin dominance: a continued rise above 58% reinforces the consolidation narrative, while a move back toward 55% would suggest altcoins are recovering and broader risk appetite is returning.

Crypto Daily is Cristoniq’s daily guide to cryptocurrency markets, published every morning for informational purposes only. Nothing here is financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.