Following a strong finish to August and start to September, the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price went into sharp reverse over the past day.
On Tuesday, the world's first and biggest crypto reached highs of US$79,419, which saw it up more than 25% in a month.
But then the bottom fell out, and the Bitcoin price plunged 5.7% to US$74,910.
At the time of writing on Wednesday morning, it's recovered some of those losses, trading for US$75,796.
Taking a step back, that leaves the world's top crypto down 34.2% since this time last year and down 40% from its all-time high of US$126,198, notched on 7 October 2025.
It's been a similar story with the world's second biggest crypto by market cap, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). On Tuesday, the Ethereum price reached US$2,598 before crashing 8.2% to US$2,358 overnight.
Ethereum is currently trading for US$2,399.
Ethereum hit its own record highs on 25 August 2025, when the token reached US$4,954. It's now down 51.6% from that high water mark.
So, why have crypto investors suddenly favoured their sell buttons?
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the Bitcoin price under pressure?
The Bitcoin price is catching headwinds on several fronts.
First, crypto investors the world over had been hoping to see the United States Senate pass the Clarity Act on Tuesday.
If you're not familiar with this bill, it's intended to give the US SEC and the CFTC departments oversight into crypto trading. If passed, it could fully open the door to trading in cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum in US stock markets.
But it did not pass yesterday, failing to get the required 60 vote majority.
Commenting on the fallout from the bill's stalled passage, Ayesha Kiani, chief operating officer at Monarq Asset Management, said (quoted by Bloomberg):
The failure to advance the Clarity Act prolongs a regulatory gap that has real consequences for where companies build, where capital is deployed, and how quickly institutional adoption moves in the US.
And crypto investors will likely now have to wait until at least 2027 before the bill is revisited.
"Market structure legislation is done for 2026, and the next realistic window is a new Congress," Jasper De Maere, an over-the-counter trader at Wintermute, noted.
What else has got crypto investors jittery?
The Ethereum and Bitcoin prices are also facing headwinds from high US inflation, leading to increasing expectations of an interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve.
Like most risk assets, Bitcoin has proven to be very sensitive to interest rate levels.
Commenting on the impact of the inflationary pressure and interest rate outlook on Bitcoin, Nischal Shetty, founder of WazirX, said (quoted by Moneycontrol):
These factors can restrict liquidity and reduce risk appetite across crypto markets. However, Bitcoin's relative stability suggests underlying demand remains resilient. Overall, macro conditions remain restrictive, but crypto continues to absorb external pressure without a broader breakdown.
