Crypto market crashes as Trump’s tariffs trigger panic

US President Donald Trump’s impending trade war just sent risk assets tumbling, and crypto got wrecked. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) both dropped by almost 10% in the last 24 hours, shaking the ground for altcoins. Solana (SOL) and Ripple’s XRP also fell by more than 8% over the last day as the market enters fear territory.

The global digital assets market printed heavy red indexes, as the cumulative cap dropped 9% over the last day to stand at $2.63 trillion. Its 24-hour trading volume remained under $160 billion. The meme crypto category turned out to be the biggest to take the hit. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Pepe collapsed by at least 13% in the last 24 hours. Even the OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) price is down by a huge 35% over the last 7 days.

Crypto market hits $1 trillion loss

Risk-off mode has been activated in the market as Investors are in panic after Trump doubled down on massive tariffs, which are set to hit Mexico, Canada, and China on March 4. This has resulted in a brutal market sell-off that sent Bitcoin tumbling over 8% to $78,400, its lowest seen since November.  

Bitcoin isn’t acting like digital gold as of now; it is behaving more like a high-risk asset. The next few days could get even wilder. The BTC price has already been down by 20% over the last seven days.

Ethereum wasn’t spared either, crashing to $2,082, a 13-month low. Ether has erased all of its post-election rallies and is trading down from its November 5th zone. ETH is down nearly 50% from its highs seen after the election in late 2024. However, Ether has lost one-third of its value over the 4 weeks.

Ether’s price declined by 32% in the past 30 days and is now trading at an average price of $2,141. Its 24-hour trading volume is up by 11% to hit $34.4 billion.

It's official:

Ethereum has erased its post-election rally and is now down -9% since November 5th.

Has a new crypto bear market begun? pic.twitter.com/QwakuSsTZN

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) February 28, 2025

Crypto markets as a whole are nearing $1 trillion in losses over the last 2 months. A sentiment shift is an understatement. As per the data shared by Coinglass, the crypto liquidation (both long and short position) is heading to the $1 billion mark again. In the last 24 hours, over 227k traders got liquidated. The total liquidations recorded by the tracker come in at $950 million and counting. The largest single liquidation order of BTC/USDT valued at $38 million took place on HTX.

Bitcoin dreams fading out

Traders had been betting big on a crypto-friendly Trump White House, but that optimism had just hit a wall. Meanwhile, the US dollar is flexing as safe-haven demand surges. The Aussie and New Zealand dollars are sinking. Recently, the US President called for an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. This will go live on March 4th. This tax would be implemented on top of the 10% tariff that went live earlier this month.

It turns out that not even a “crypto president” can keep the market pumped forever. The promises of building a national Bitcoin stockpile and an SEC crackdown on crypto lawsuits look dead. As reality sets in, it’s not as bullish as some hoped.

Donald Trump didn’t order the US to buy Bitcoin; he just created a crypto working group. Investors wanted action, not bureaucracy, and they’re dumping risk as a result. This can be directly seen in the Fear and Greed index, which is flashing “Fear” and might enter the “Extreme Fear” zone at any time now.

Trump’s own meme crypto, OFFICIAL TRUMP is down by almost 60% in the past 30 days. It is down 85% from its all-time high of $75. TRUMP is trading at an average price of $11.32 at the press time.

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