Bitcoin, Ethereum Dip as Trump’s Tariffs on China Take Effect

The fallout from this month’s trade policy from the White House continues to hound global markets, including crypto.

Bitcoin has dipped 4.1% to $76,550, while Ethereum is down 8.3% over the last 24 hours as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods took effect past midnight Tuesday.

Ethereum has witnessed the steepest decline on the day among the top 10 largest tokens, trading at its lowest point since March 2023.

It comes as Bitcoin briefly fell below the $75,000 level late Tuesday, less than three hours before the tariffs took effect. Bitcoin is down roughly 30% since its January peak above $109,000, right before Trump’s inauguration.

Major altcoins also posted losses. Dogecoin is down 16.3% on the day, while Solana and Cardano are down 18% and 23.7% over the past week, CoinGecko data shows.

“It’s been a miserable run for investors since the start of February, with more than $1.2 trillion in value wiped from the crypto market,” Pav Hundal, lead market analyst at Swyftx, told Decrypt. “The markets need a circuit breaker on sentiment as much as anything else.” 

Liquidation data from CoinGlass shows significant market distress, with the total running to roughly $411 million over the last 24 hours.

“This has been a very emotional journey,” Hundal said. “Everyone’s operating at extremes and there’s no in-between.”

Mounting tariff turmoil

The crypto market’s selloff mirrors broader financial market turmoil as Trump’s tariff blitz over the past week has intensified the “trade war” between the world’s two largest economies.

Asian markets opened sharply lower on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 2.6% by the midday break, and Australia’s ASX 200 losing 2%.

It follows a 1.5% decline in the S&P 500 on Tuesday, bringing its losses since mid-February to nearly 20%, where it is now approaching bear market territory.

“We’ve entered a new era of protectionism, and what’s worrying is we still have no more clarity on where it’s all going to settle,” Hundal argued.  “All eyes now will be on how quickly the U.S. can barter new trade and non-trade deals.”

The market turbulence coincides with key movements in bond and yield markets.

The 10-year Treasury yield jumped between 4.2% and 4.4% late Tuesday, representing one of its fastest intraday climbs since World War II. 

Also, on Tuesday, the first Treasury auction of three-year notes following Trump’s Liberation Day witnessed the weakest demand since late 2023.

The drop-off for three-year notes has raised concerns about waning foreign investors’ appetite for U.S. government debt as the trade tensions escalate to what some observers see as a “once-in-a-lifetime” breakdown.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair