Bitcoin pares earlier advances and falls under $88,000 amid soft Nasdaq futures.

Bitcoin erased gains from the Asian session, sliding below $88,000 and weighing on major altcoins as broader risk sentiment turned cautious.

The largest cryptocurrency briefly pushed above $90,000 before reversing, CoinDesk data shows, cutting short early rebound attempts across the market. Major tokens including XRP, ether, solana and dogecoin also pulled back from session highs. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) retreated to around 2,726, roughly its level in early Asian trading, after earlier rising to 2,789.

The move aligned with weakness in equity index futures. At the time of writing, futures linked to the Nasdaq 100 were down about 0.5%, signaling a subdued start to U.S. trading. Bitcoin tends to track the tech-heavy index closely, with the correlation becoming more pronounced during equity market downturns, according to Wintermute.

The pullback prompted a modest reduction in leveraged positioning. Data from Coinglass shows cumulative open interest across bitcoin futures fell to roughly 533,000 BTC from about 540,000 BTC earlier in the day, after climbing from 524,000 BTC as prices rallied toward $90,000.

Recent trading patterns suggest bitcoin has struggled during U.S. hours, according to Laser Digital. Analysts at the firm noted a clear underperformance in the U.S. timezone last week, with BTC and ETH both falling more than 3% during those hours, offset by gains in Asia. They attributed the dynamic largely to year-end tax-loss harvesting, noting that crypto has lagged other global asset classes this year.

Still, some analysts remain constructive on bitcoin’s broader outlook. John Glover, chief investment officer at crypto lender Ledn and an Elliott Wave specialist, said the longer-term setup remains favorable despite near-term uncertainty. He expects bitcoin to trade sideways to slightly lower in the coming weeks or months and would look to add long positions in the $71,000 to $84,000 range.