Rate Anxiety and Leverage Unwind Drag DOGE, SOL & XRP Lower

Altcoins Slide as Traders Brace for Fed Decision and Economic Headwinds

Altcoins extended their downturn into a second consecutive week Tuesday, underperforming bitcoin and ether as global markets await a wave of high-stakes macroeconomic developments.

XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) led the pullback, each falling more than 3% over the past 24 hours. Dogecoin (DOGE), Avalanche (AVAX), and Sui (SUI) posted steeper declines, dropping over 5% amid risk-off sentiment.

The ongoing sell-off has driven seven-day losses in XRP and SOL to around 13%, while DOGE is down approximately 18% during the same stretch, according to CoinDesk data.

Bitcoin (BTC) traded flat on the day near $117,312, while ether also held relatively steady, reinforcing the recent divergence between large-cap digital assets and their altcoin counterparts.

The weakness in altcoins follows a surge in leveraged positioning earlier this month, which is now unwinding as traders grow cautious ahead of multiple macro events. These include Wednesday’s Federal Reserve policy decision, where Chair Jerome Powell is widely expected to hold interest rates steady — despite public calls from President Donald Trump for a rate cut.

Market participants are also watching for Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls data and several looming deadlines related to new Trump-era tariffs, both of which could introduce fresh volatility across risk assets.

U.S. equities erased early gains Tuesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both slipping into negative territory by the close.