The trade tariffs confirmation announcement by United States President Donald Trump on April 2 triggered a flurry of reactions from cryptocurrency investors, who anticipated market turbulence driven by the policy change.
According to a weekly report by the on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, the crypto market witnessed a sell-off before and during the press conference held for the announcement. Since then, bearish conditions have persisted.
Crypto Investors’ Reaction to Trump’s Tariffs
As the press conference approached, investors scrambled to transfer their BTC to crypto exchanges. The rush was so high that a single Bitcoin block recorded as much as 2,500 BTC. The largest American crypto exchange, Coinbase, also witnessed a significant spike in BTC deposits, especially from large holders.
The uptick in exchange deposits was not peculiar to BTC; investors also rushed to transfer their ETH and XRP to trading platforms. ETH deposits to exchanges rose to an hourly maximum of roughly 80,000 ETH, while XRP transfers spiked to 130 million tokens—a far cry from the 10 million per hour transactions seen the previous day.
CryptoQuant said these large exchange inflows indicated that investors were positioning themselves to sell their assets due to the rising economic uncertainty.
During the press conference, BTC, ETH, and XRP plummeted by 6.2%, 7%, and 5%, respectively, erasing the price gains they had garnered that day. This is a clear indication that investors did sell their holdings.
BTC Demand Plummeted
Moreover, demand for BTC and ETH in the perpetual futures market declined as traders closed their positions to take profits during the conference. The total open interest for BTC fell from 334,000 BTC to 304,000 BTC, while that of ETH plunged by 100,000 ETH. CryptoQuant revealed that falling open interest during a price drop indicates that traders are exiting long positions due to liquidations or anticipating further decline.
After the conference, demand for BTC from U.S. investors was reduced. This was seen in the Coinbase Bitcoin Premium falling from 0.04% before the tariffs confirmation announcement to 0.03% after Trump’s speech.
“For the price of Bitcoin to rally significantly, it needs relatively higher demand from US investors,” CryptoQuant stated.
Meanwhile, the Bull Score Index still suggests that BTC is in a bear market. For weeks, the metric has been at 20, its lowest level since January 2023, flashing signals seen in previous bear phases.
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