TON Dips Below $2 as Crypto Market Faces Risk-Off Sentiment

The cryptocurrency TON fell more than 2% to $1.925 as a wave of risk-off sentiment swept through the market.

Bitcoin briefly dropped below the $100,000 mark—its first dip under this level since June 2025—prompting long traders to face liquidations totaling nearly $1.6 billion.

This market turbulence also saw altcoins like TON suffer disproportionately.

Tuesday's $128 million hack targeting the Balancer decentralized exchange exacerbated the market sell-off.

Concerns about protocol security triggered a flight to safety among investors, with cryptocurrency prices retreating amid heightened uncertainty.

Altcoins Under Pressure After Balancer Exploit

TON’s price slid from brief lows near $1.81 but struggled to maintain levels above $1.90, continuing a pattern of lower highs.

The Balancer attack, which exploited vulnerabilities in its V2 composable stable pools, raised alarms.

The intricate exploit involved manipulating swap calculations, allowing the attacker to exploit rounding precision errors to drain over $128 million from the network.

This incident is among the largest crypto thefts of 2025 and has contributed to shaky market confidence.

Jasper de Maere, an OTC trader, noted that the market is still feeling the fallout from October’s $19 billion in liquidations, with low liquidity in altcoins aggravating their vulnerability to macroeconomic pressures.

Despite these headwinds, TON showed signs of stabilizing, consolidating between $1.92 and $1.94 after rebounding from daily lows.

Fragile Momentum with Key Support Levels in Focus

Currently, TON’s momentum remains delicate. Technical analyses suggest a drop below $1.87 could trigger further losses, while reclaiming $1.95 might mark the start of recovery.

Meanwhile, bitcoin’s retreat below $100,000 shook confidence, following a summer rally that pushed prices above $110,000.

The broader market, as gauged by the CoinDesk 20 index, overall showed just a slight 0.2% fall over the same period, buoyed primarily by bitcoin’s 1.4% rise after its dip.

Market observers highlight increasing yields on U.S. government bonds and regulatory uncertainties as key factors driving investors from risk assets like cryptocurrencies.

The Balancer hack intensified concerns over DeFi security, reinforcing the cautious mood.