As the trade war between the United States and China intensifies, the cryptocurrency market is also experiencing volatility. With conflicting announcements of tariff deferrals and retaliatory measures, investor sentiment has rapidly changed, and major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, have created a roller coaster-like market trend.
According to the global cryptocurrency market site CoinMarketCap at 4:30 PM on the 11th, major coins simultaneously showed a downward trend, reflecting market uncertainty. Bitcoin dropped 1.17% from the previous day to $80,850.62, and has fallen 3.28% over a week. Ethereum also showed a sharp decline, dropping 14.65% over seven days. In contrast, the stablecoin Tether (USDT) remained stable near $1.
The primary cause of this decline is the escalating tariff conflict between the United States and China. The US announced a 90-day tariff deferral for some countries on the 9th, raising investor expectations. However, the market immediately reacted when the US announced the next day that it would impose tariffs up to 145% on Chinese products in response to fentanyl-related issues. Bitcoin temporarily soared to around $83,000 with the tariff deferral news but then reversed and fell below $80,000 the following day.
Such extreme price fluctuations are analyzed as being due to correlation with the stock market and risk asset avoidance. Digital asset analysts observe that Bitcoin has recently shown movements similar to the Nasdaq and has become more sensitive to the overall flow of risk assets.
This market reaction shows that downward pressure due to policy uncertainty is more significant than short-term rebounds. Particularly, with China announcing retaliatory tariffs up to 84% on all US goods, trade tensions are escalating.
With additional macroeconomic variables such as future Federal Reserve interest rate forecasts and economic indicators, the digital asset market is likely to continue an unstable trend for some time.
