Massive Bitcoin, Altcoin Volatility as Trump’s Trade War Triggers Retaliation: This Week’s Crypto Recap

It was another big week in the cryptocurrency markets, filled with notable developments and big price moves propelled by US President Donald Trump’s global political actions.

More precisely, his Trade War that escalated this week. In what he called ‘Liberation Day,’ the POTUS announced massive tariffs against numerous countries, including some of the country’s biggest partners. That was on April 2 and they should be incorporated on April 5.

Naturally, many countries and regions decided to fight back by announcing tariffs of their own. The latest to do so was China, which earlier today imposed a 34% retaliatory tariff on all goods imported from the United States.

These developments led to substantial volatility in all financial markets, including crypto. Bitcoin began the business week with a price slide to $81,200 but quickly started to regain traction and skyrocketed to just over $88,000 on Wednesday amid reports that Trump will remove Elon Musk from his inner circle.

However, that was just hours ahead of the tariff announcements on ‘Liberation Day’ and BTC quickly reversed its trajectory. In a matter of just a few hours, the cryptocurrency plunged by several grand and fell to $82,300. Its rebound was unsuccessful and bitcoin dumped to $81,200 on Thursday.

Another failed recovery attempt transpired today when BTC neared $85,000, but then the Chinese retaliation tariffs came on. Bitcoin reacted with an immediate plunge to $81,600. It now struggles below $83,000, being 2.5% down weekly.

More substantial weekly losses come from several altcoins, led by TON (-14%), LINK (-11%), SIU (-12.5%), and SOL (-10%). ETH, ADA, BNB, and DOGE are also deep in the red.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.748T | 24H Vol: $112B | BTC Dominance: 59.8%

BTC: $82,720 (-4.5%) | ETH: $1,788 (-5.3%) | XRP: $2.1 (-4.2%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Arthur Hayes Predicts Money Printing Boom, Bullish for Bitcoin. With everyone focused on the Trade War, multiple experts have rushed to offer their opinion on how these uncertain times can impact BTC and the financial markets. Arthur Hayes outlined his positive prediction, indicating that bitcoin has to maintain this level by US tax day (April 15) to remain in a bull cycle structure.

Here’s Why Ethereum (ETH) Continues to Bleed, According to CryptoQuant. Ethereum continues to underperform, with its price tanking below $1,800 earlier this week. CryptoQuant named a few reasons behind ETH’s struggles, including the diminishing network activity.

Are Trump’s Tariffs Impacting Cryptocurrencies as Expected? Santiment Weighs In. The tariffs implemented by Trump and replicated by numerous other countries in response have an undeniable and immediate impact on BTC and the crypto market. However, what are the long-term effects? You can find out here.

Stablecoin Issuer Circle Files for IPO After Big Revenue Report. The more positive regulatory landscape in the United States allowed Circle, the company behind the second-largest stablecoin, to file for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This came after a strong revenue report from the firm for Q1, 2025.

Metaplanet Increases Bitcoin Holdings to 4,046 BTC with Latest Acquisition. Metaplanet, following the example by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, seems unfazed by the global economic uncertainty and continues to purchase BTC frequently. Saylor’s company did the same this week.

Bitcoin, Ether Post Worst First Quarter Performance in 7 Years. Despite the big expectations for February and March, Q1 of this year turned out to be the worst for the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. BTC dropped by just shy of 12%, while ETH’s price tumbled by more than 45%.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Shiba Inu, and Solana – click here for the complete price analysis.