Bitcoin’s (BTC) initial reaction to President Donald Trump’s trade war spooked cryptocurrency investors enough to seemingly disprove the digital gold thesis and place BTC firmly in the same box as other risk assets.
Specifically, Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement on April 2 triggered a massive BTC sell-off, which took the coin from $84,598 at the time, to a low of $75,004 on April 9. Though Bitcoin enjoyed a partial recovery after the reciprocal tariffs were subsequently paused for 90 days, its fate still appeared closely linked to the stock market.
The link was, however, broken on Easter weekend, as Bitcoin took an entirely different direction from the stock market, rallying to its press time of $88,927.
The move simultaneously erased the losses from Liberation Day, effectively resetting BTC price and giving it renewed momentum about reclaiming highs above $90,000 and possibly breaching the psychologically critical $100,000 level again.
Bitcoin remains a loser in the trade war despite latest rally
Although the latest developments have been positive, it is worth noting that BTC has only recovered from the plunge on Liberation Day and remains more than $13,000 below the $102,345 it held on the eve of the trade war.
President Trump initiated the international tariff battle with his announcement of duties to be levied on Canada, Mexico, and China on February 1. The event, though overshadowed by the more recent and more extreme proclamations and escalations, coincided with the beginning of the wipe that is still gripping the stock and cryptocurrency markets.
At the start of February, Bitcoin stood at $102,345, meaning that it remains 13.11% down since the start of the trade war despite the latest upswing.
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