Crypto markets dipped after US President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency and sweeping tariffs on all countries as part of his latest salvo in the ongoing trade war.
The Trump administration has hit all countries with a 10% tariff starting April 5, with some countries facing even larger rates, such as China facing a 34% tariff, the European Union 20%, and Japan 24%.
During an April 2 speech in the Rose Garden at the White House, Trump said the US is charging countries “approximately half of what they are and have been charging us.”
🚨 @POTUS signs an Executive Order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world.
It’s LIBERATION DAY in America! pic.twitter.com/p7UnfE617B
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 2, 2025
The crypto market briefly went up at the news of a 10% sweeping tariff, but once the full scope became known, it dipped with bleeding across the board.
Bitcoin (BTC) had been staging a rally, reaching a session high at $88,500 but dropped 2.6% back to around $82,876. Meanwhile, CoinGecko data shows Ether (ETH) dropped over 6% from $1,934 to $1,797 following the tariff announcements and the total crypto market cap dropped 5.3% to $2.7 trillion.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which measures market sentiment for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, returned a score of 25, classed as extreme fear, in its latest April 2 update.
However, prices have clawed back some losses since. Bitcoin has recovered 0.8% to $83,205. While Ether regained 1.2% to take back $1,810.
The crypto Fear & Greed Index score has returned an average rating of fear for the last week but has now dipped to extreme fear. Source: Alternative.me
Stock markets didn’t fare much better; trading resource The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 2 post to X that the stock market index S&P 500 erased over $2 trillion in market cap, working out to be roughly $125 billion per minute.
Trump tariffs could bring certainty to markets
Rachael Lucas, a crypto analyst at Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets, said the brief surge was a case of “uncertainty relief,” then a sell-off as the full…
..
