Trump’s tariffs send crypto market crashing

According to CoinGecko, crypto market capitalization dropped by almost 12% to $3.16 trillion on February 3. The plunge followed Trump’s announcement of 25% taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China. President Trump also promised to take similar measures regarding trade relations with the European Union.

The flagship cryptocurrency plummeted to $91,280 but has since rebounded and is currently trading above $98,000. ETH slid below its three-month minimum of $2,400. According to Coinmarketcap, Ethereum price is currently around $2,700.

CoinGlass analysts noted that the most significant price plunge drove about $2.27 billion in liquidations — the most massive liquidation in the crypto industry’s history. However, Bybit co-founder Ben Zhou insisted that the estimated crypto liquidation is considerably lower than the actual figure, which is at least $8 billion.

The businessman highlighted that Bybit’s 24-hour liquidation alone was $2.1 billion, although analytical services only reported $333 million due to API limitations.

Bitget Research chief analyst Ryan Lee predicted that further developments would largely depend on the situation around the trade war between the USA, its immediate neighbors, and China, as well as on institutional investors’ sentiment towards crypto. If they continue investing in spot bitcoin ETFs, it will support the leading digital currency during turbulent times.