Fallout from the US president’s tariff onslaught caused massive selling in an asset class that he has pledged to support, wiping out nearly all of the gains made by cryptocurrencies since his election victory in early November.
For the first time since November 7, Bitcoin temporarily fell below $75,000 on Monday, falling as much as 5.3% before marginally rising again. However, smaller tokens stayed muted; as of 8:57 a.m. in New York, XRP, Solana, and Cardano were all down 5% to 10%. The price of ether was at its lowest level since March 2023.
When Trump cemented his victory, the market valuation of all cryptocurrencies dropped by around 11% to $2.5 trillion.
Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have already depleted trillions of dollars’ worth of global stock, have caused the decline, shattering expectations that cryptocurrency would do better than other assets under the strain. The yen rose on Monday while Asian stocks and US equity-index futures fell, indicating that financial markets are becoming more and more unstable.
Trump’s second term was greatly aided by the cryptocurrency sector, which was one of the largest donors to his campaign last year. In exchange, US authorities have halted or rejected the majority of well-publicized inquiries into cryptocurrency companies, while lawmakers continue to work on new laws to govern the industry.
Rather than a Trump tailwind, cryptocurrency faced a Category 5 hurricane in 2025, according to Matthew Graham, CEO and founder of Ryze Labs, a startup financing firm that focuses on cryptocurrency. “He stiffened us in response to our expectation of the tailwind.”
The largest optimistic cryptocurrency bets since early December were liquidated in the last 24 hours, totaling almost $1.2 billion, according to statistics.
The head of APAC derivatives at digital-asset prime brokerage FalconX, Sean McNulty, stated that options markets indicate the selling pressure may persist “with the skew for puts picking up considerably.” He noted that the $75,000 and $1,500 key support levels for Bitcoin and Ether, respectively.
According to data from derivatives market Deribit, open interest, or the total number of contracts that are still in force, is currently higher for put options with a $70,000 strike price than for any other expiry. This demonstrates the rising need for further downside protection.
Digital assets had indicated a potential break from the allure of technology companies by displaying some resistance to the fear that engulfed markets following Trump’s initial announcement of his tariff agenda. The selloff on Monday suggests that the strong positive correlation that has existed between cryptocurrencies and the Nasdaq 100 since the Covid-19 epidemic may continue.
According to Julia Zhou, COO at cryptocurrency market creator Caladan, cryptocurrency is usually a leading signal for risky assets. “Once US stocks open today, expect further sharp corrections.
