Bitcoin was broadly flat on Wednesday as the crypto markets await details of Donald Trump’s planned tariffs.
The White House is describing April 2 as “Liberation Day,” with the president set to make an announcement at 4 p.m. Eastern Time during his Make America Wealthy Again event in the White House Rose Garden.
Uncertainty looms about which products imported to the U.S. will be most affected—as well as the countries that will be hardest hit.
European stocks were trading lower in the run-up to Trump’s address, and according to Bloomberg, many Wall Street firms are expecting heightened volatility in the S&P 500 as details emerge.
That could prove problematic for Bitcoin, as stock market sell-offs tend to have a negative impact on the world’s biggest cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price has gained 1.1% and had nearly reclaimed $85,000. Meanwhile, the Ethereum price has lost 0.2% over the past day. ETH is currently changing hands for $1,880.45, according to CoinGecko data.
Data from Newhedge suggests the fates of BTC and U.S. equities are closely tied right now. On a scale from -1 to 1, the correlation currently stands at 0.74, indicating both markets are almost always moving in the same direction.
In a note seen by Decrypt, BRN lead analyst Valentin Fournier warned the threat of a global trade war is prompting institutional investors to scale back risk exposure. Tuesday saw $158 million flow out of ETFs tracking BTC’s spot price, according to SoSoValue.
“Notably, this capital rotation coincides with new inflows into gold, as investors hedge against uncertainty surrounding Trump’s upcoming ‘Liberation Day’ announcements,” he wrote.
Fournier went on to note that Bitcoin’s dominance, referring to its share of the total crypto market, now stands at 61.8%. That’s compared with 52.3% a year ago—an indication that traders are pulling out of lesser-known altcoins, CoinMarketCap data shows.
With BTC’s bull run on ice, a wider question is how long Trump’s tariff campaign will last and whether struggling markets will force the president to change tack.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is slated to release its March employment numbers on Friday morning. The jobs report beat estimates in February, but BLS data showed that the unemployment rate still rose to 3.9%.
Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, believes the president will be forced to backtrack in the next 6 to 12 months because this policy risks “choking global supply chains and hiking prices for U.S. consumers.”
“History teaches us that trade wars are easy to start but hard to win, and the early signs of strain are already visible across markets and boardrooms,” he warned.
Green went on to argue that a reversal is “almost inevitable” because “markets crave clarity, businesses need stability, and consumers demand relief.”
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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