The more I look at this the weirder it gets

Back on October 10th the entire timeline agreed on one thing
“Tariffs just broke crypto.”
Mass liquidations
Violent move down
Clean, simple explanation
But fast forward to now and the reaction just isn’t there
Tariffs pushed higher → market holds
More escalation talk → buyers step in
More scary headlines → barely any follow-through
Same macro pressure
Completely different price behavior
That’s usually a big clue
Because markets rarely change personality for no reason
What likely changed wasn’t the news
it was the positioning under the surface
In October the market was stretched thin
leverage elevated
longs overcrowded
liquidity patchy
everyone leaning the same direction
That kind of setup doesn’t need a huge catalyst
It just needs an excuse
And once the unwind starts, it feeds on itself liquidations trigger more liquidations, bids disappear, and suddenly the narrative becomes “the reason”
Now compare that to what we’re seeing
Negative headlines keep hitting the tape, but price isn’t reacting the same way
Instead of cascading, the market is absorbing
That usually happens after a proper cleanup phase, when
– forced sellers are mostly gone
– leverage has cooled off
– positioning is less one-sided
– stronger buyers are willing to step in
It doesn’t guarantee upside from here
But it does suggest the market structure today is healthier than it was during the October flush
Most people focus on the story
The better signal is always the reaction
And right now, the reaction is telling a very different story than the one everyone believed a few months ago