Trump's 100% China Tariffs Trigger Crypto Carnage, Digital Assets Nosedive

TradingKey - Friday, US President Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, triggering a historic sell-off in crypto assets as the global cryptocurrency market cap plummeted 10.27% within 24 hours, falling below the $4 trillion mark.

As a market bellwether, Bitcoin fell nearly 15% intraday, briefly losing the $110,000 mark, though it later narrowed losses to around $111,000. However, it has significantly retreated from Monday's historical high of $126,250.

Meanwhile, Ethereum dropped more than 16% at its peak, with some tokens including ADA, Solana, and BNB recording 20%-30% declines. Major altcoins such as XRP and Dogecoin suffered even more severe sell-offs, with peak declines approaching 40%. However, many tokens later saw some price recovery.

(Source: Coinbase)

According to Coinglass data, 1.65 million people were liquidated globally in the past 24 hours, with total liquidation amounting to $19.274 billion. The largest single liquidation order occurred on Hyperliquid-ETH-USDT, valued at $203 million.

Trump claimed on Truth Social that China has "captured" global markets by monopolizing critical resources such as rare earths, constituting "serious trade hostility," and subsequently confirmed 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports starting November 1, while canceling meetings with Chinese leaders. Although he later stated that tariffs could be canceled if China changes its stance before November 1, market panic had already spread rapidly.

"Brutal day," said Ram Ahluwalia, founder of investment firm Lumida Wealth. "The Trump news combined with 'overbought' conditions led to a sharp decline."

"The altcoin complex got absolutely eviscerated," said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder and is the CIO of crypto hedge fund Split Capital. "We’re at levels not seen in more than a year with regard to altcoins. Full leverage reset and market dislocation."