US stocks reacted immediately at the open, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index down 1% and 1.2%, respectively, at the time of writing.
Reflecting on the latest developments, crypto market participants were unsurprised, given the existing precedent for tariff-related volatility.
“Nice aggregate flush of long leverage & de-risk selling from spot,” popular trader Skew summarized in a post on X.
“All driven by headlines once again.”
Binance Bitcoin futures market data overview. Source: Skew/X
Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass put 4-hour liquidations at nearly $350 million, with the 24-hour tally at over $500 million.
Total crypto liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass
“There's the break from the compression with a push from Trump. Markets worldwide obviously not liking the news,” fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades continued.
“Will have to see where this settles today and how BTC ends up performing relative to equities now the trade uncertainty is back.”
Commenting on the macro outlook, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter suggested that the Trump administration was caught between a rock and a hard place.
“We have now learned: Too much tariff pressure causes the basis trade to unwind. Too little tariff pressure causes inflation expectations to rise,” it wrote in part of an X response.
“Now, President Trump must find a middle ground to maintain tariffs but also suppress treasury yields WITHOUT Fed cuts.”
Kobeissi referred to the Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to hasted interest rate cuts despite declining inflation — a key ingredient in further risk-asset upside.
“Front ran $110K tag,” Skew continued alongside a chart of order book liquidity concentrations.
“Important level from here for the market to auction above (key for continuation).”
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.