The cryptocurrency market has suffered its worst day in over a year, dropping by nearly half a trillion dollars in the space of 24 hours.
The collapse was triggered by US President Donald Trump announcing new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China over the weekend, raising fears of a global trade war.
The tariffs impacted stock markets throughout Europe, Asia and the US, though certain cryptocurrencies were hit particularly hard as the appetite for risky assets weakened considerably.
Crypto trading is not limited to traditional trading hours, meaning investors were able to dump risky assets ahead of markets opening on Monday.
Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) both lost around a third of their value over the weekend, while Solana (SOL) dropped by roughly a quarter.
Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $100,000 but was able to recover relatively well – further bolstering its claim as a safe-haven asset akin to “digital gold”.
The worst hit were so-called meme coins, including President Trump’s recently launched $TRUMP coin, which is down 70 per cent from its peak.
Total liquidations reached above $2 billion for the first time this year, with CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which measures market sentiment, dipping into ‘fear’ for the first time since October 2024.
“A tidal wave of fear, uncertainty and doubt has been unleashed across the cryptocurrency market after Trump’s Friday tariff announcement,” Petr Kozyakov, co-founder and CEO at crypto platform Mercuryo, told The Independent.
“This once again underlines the highly speculative nature of meme tokens and the high risks that they pose to the uninformed,” Mr Kozyakov said.
Crypto market analysts have pointed to a key support level of $92,000 that bitcoin has so far managed to stay above. Should it fall below this level, then further sell-offs are expected.
Trump has pledged to be the first ever “crypto president”, and has already signed an executive order that is expected to be favourable for the cryptocurrency industry.
Bitcoin’s recent price surge has been attributed to Trump’s arrival to the White House, recently reaching an all-time-high of close to $110,000 on the day he entered office.
Among the most-anticipated policies is the creation of a US bitcoin reserve.
