Bitcoin surges by 8%, Tesla gains 20% as Trump pauses key tariffs

Bitcoin jumped by more than 8% on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had authorized a 90-day pause on key trade tariffs. This pushed the price of Bitcoin up to $82,350.37, according to CoinGecko.

Earlier in the day, the price had dropped as low as $74,567.02 when the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield temporarily spiked above 4.51%.

The pause in tariffs triggered a full-blown rally across stocks and crypto. The Dow Jones Industrial Average logged its biggest one-day gain in five years. Tech stocks exploded. 

Tesla, one of the top gainers, climbed 20%, recovering losses it had racked up since the start of 2025 due to CEO Elon Musk’s public alignment with the Trump administration. Robinhood was up 23%. Crypto exchange Coinbase gained 20%, and MicroStrategy, which recently rebranded to Strategy, rocketed 25%.

Trump wrote in his post that he had “authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.” He added that after this temporary pause, the tariff on China would rise to 125%. That post lit up both traditional markets and the crypto sector.

The NASDAQ rallied as traders poured into tech stocks that had been dumped in recent months. Tesla stood out. The company had taken a beating over the past few months as Musk inserted himself into global politics despite not being an elected official. With the tariff freeze in place, investors went risk-on again.

Even with the sharp jump, Bitcoin is still down roughly 25% from its all-time high in January. Since last Thursday, the coin has been reacting closely to the equities market. As traders look for more signs of direction on trade policy, Bitcoin has dropped about 5% over the past week, matching the losses seen across major stock indexes.

Goldman, Ackman react to tariff pause as volatility shifts

Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale Investments, told CNBC that short-term moves in Bitcoin will likely stay linked to tech stocks, but long-term investors should think beyond that. He said portfolios should be positioned for “sustained dollar weakness and generally above-target inflation,” since past trade conflicts in the U.S. often ended that way.

Not long after Trump made the announcement, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman reacted with a post on X, saying, “Thank you on behalf of all Americans.” In a follow-up, he praised Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with the message, “[Scott] rocks!” Ackman’s comments came just as crypto and equities were exploding across the board.

Goldman Sachs also changed direction. The bank had sent out a note just 30 minutes before Trump’s post, forecasting a 65% chance of recession and a 1% drop in GDP for the year. But right after the White House announcement, the forecast flipped. Goldman dropped its recession odds to 45% and now expects 0.5% GDP growth instead.

Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief economist, told clients the newly announced tariffs still line up with their previous prediction of a 15-point rise in the effective tariff rate. He said the firm expects more sector-specific tariffs in the future.

“We think the White House is unlikely to quickly reverse most of the new tariffs,” Hatzius added. But he also pointed out that Goldman’s recession forecast would drop again if the administration rolls back additional measures.

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