Global liquidity hits $157T – But the crypto market remains cautious

The cryptocurrency market has been in one of its most bearish phases, as capital outflows continue to dominate, with several assets losing significant value.

Sellers have wiped out over $1.37 trillion in market capitalization over the last 79 days, and losses continue to mount.

The presence of isolated capital, however, has sparked new debates about the potential for a market rebound.

Isolated capital in the market

Global liquidity has risen significantly, reaching $147 trillion according to the latest reading.

The global financial system holds a total amount of money and credit, which investors and institutions can deploy into economic activity and financial markets.

Historically, this has been positive for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC] because excess liquidity tends to flow into equities, cryptocurrencies, and other speculative assets.

Ideally, the impact should have been felt in the crypto market; however, investors are currently adopting a more cautious stance.

These investors are prioritizing capital preservation and turning to assets that guarantee stability. In this case, gold—which recently reached a lifetime high of $4,420 per ounce—remains a key traditional safe haven.

Similarly, capital has moved into stablecoins, digital assets designed to maintain a 1:1 ratio with fiat currencies such as the US Dollar.

Stablecoin market capitalization has reached $308.88 billion, marking a 2% increase over 30 days.

Is a rebound still possible?

Recent changes to the Enhanced Supplementary Leverage Ratio (eSLR) highlight the potential for a market recovery.

In late 2025, federal banking regulators finalized a significant rule change to the eSLR to reduce capital constraints on large banks and support Treasury market stability.

In simple terms, regulators now require banks to hold less capital than before. For large banks, the 5% requirement and their subsidiaries’ 6% requirement have dropped to about 3% (with other adjustments included).

This change will free up hundreds of billions of dollars, encouraging banks to hold more low-risk assets and potentially allocate more to high-risk assets, including Bitcoin.

While full implementation is still underway, global liquidity remains the most important factor providing an outlook.

Recent notes from Alpha Extracts suggest that a positive shift in the risk-on threshold would make this impact more evident.

This isn’t the time to accumulate crypto

The Financial Stress Index (FSI), used to measure systemic stress in the global financial market, indicates that now isn’t the best period to accumulate risk assets.

The FSI currently shows a negative inclination, which historically correlates with underperformance in assets like Bitcoin.

A return to the positive zone on the chart would, however, suggest a safer period for accumulating risk assets such as Bitcoin.

For now, global financial sentiment suggests that there is still isolated capital that could improve crypto market conditions.

This does not negate the present bearish outlook; it only implies that a reversal could happen soon.

Final Thoughts

• Global liquidity has hit a new threshold of $157 trillion; however, this capital remains largely isolated from the crypto market.
• The Financial Stress Index hints that now isn’t the best time to purchase risk assets such as Bitcoin.