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Speculation over a purported White House plan to pause tariffs for ninety days on all countries except China sent markets into a frenzy earlier today, triggering abrupt price reversals across equities, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In a quick-fire series of conflicting updates, the rumor initially floated at around 10:10 AM ET, sparked momentum in risk assets, and was eventually deemed “fake news” by the White House.
The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) described the chronology on X, noting: “What just happened? At 10:10 AM ET, rumors emerged that the White House was considering a ‘90-day tariff pause.’ At 10:15 AM ET, CNBC reported that Trump is considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for ALL countries except for China. By 10:18 AM ET, the S&P 500 had added over +$3 TRILLION in market cap from its low.”
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However, only seven minutes later, at 10:25 AM ET, reports emerged that the White House was ‘unaware’ of Trump considering a 90-day pause. “At 10:26 AM ET, CNBC reports that the 90-day tariff pause headlines were incorrect. At 10:34 AM ET, the White House officially called the tariff pause headlines ‘fake news.’ By 10:40 AM ET, the S&P 500 erased -$2.5 TRILLION of market cap from its high, 22 minutes prior. Never in history have we seen something like this,” The Kobeissi Letter writes.
The mere suggestion of a temporary reprieve from tariffs managed to shift sentiment rapidly in both equity and crypto markets. BTC, which was trading around $75,805 at the time, soared by roughly 7.2% to surpass $81,200 within half an hour. Once confirmation arrived that no such pause was planned, the gains evaporated almost as fast as they had arrived, pulling Bitcoin back to roughly $77,560.
The abrupt turn of events unleashed a wave of commentary among crypto observers. Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) remarked that “The fake news tweet showed there’s a lot of sidelined capital at least for relief rally and the risk is to the upside on any positive news at least temporarily.”
Will Clemente III cautioned: “Bear take: Liquidity is bad and this volatility might break something. Bull take: This headline was the cointelegraph intern BTC ETF headline but for equities.”
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Julio Moreno, Head of Research at CryptoQuant, remarked that “Bitcoin’s current price drawdown is about to become the largest of the current cycle,” illustrating his point with a chart that showed BTC’s correction reaching -26.62%, matching the scale of August 2024’s correction.
Macro analyst Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) invoked BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s observation that another 20% market drop is not out of the question, saying: “That’s the thing. Under normal circumstances, probability of such scenarios or things such as stagflation are so low you can just brush them off. Trump opened up the left tail => anything is possible. We are one headline away from a 7% candle in either direction.”
Podcast host Felix Jauvin (@fejau_inc) agrees: “What’s so crazy about this crash vs other is its entirely self-willed and could be reversed in an instant on one tweet. Has there ever been anything like that?”
In the midst of the turmoil, European Union Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed a willingness to seek solutions, stating, “Europe is ready to negotiate with the US,” including the possibility of zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods.
At press time, BTC traded at $78,824.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
