Trump’s China Tariff Sparks Record $19 Billion Crypto Crash and Swift Recovery
The post Trump’s China Tariff Sparks Record $19 Billion Crypto Crash and Swift Recovery appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
President Trump’s announcement of a 100% tariff on Chinese goods sent shockwaves through cryptocurrency markets last Friday, causing the biggest liquidation event crypto has ever seen. Over 1.6 million traders lost positions worth between $19 billion and $30 billion in just 24 hours. Bitcoin, which had reached a record high above $126,000 just days earlier, crashed below $102,000 before recovering. The selling happened so fast that experts compared it to the March 2020 pandemic crash. But this time, the damage was much worse—nearly 20 times larger than previous historic crashes. What Caused the Crash On Thursday, October 9, China announced new rules requiring licenses to export products containing rare earth minerals. These materials are essential for making smartphones, electric vehicle batteries, and military equipment. Trump responded the next day by threatening a 100% tariff on all Chinese imports starting November 1. He also said the U.S. would control exports of critical software. The announcement came after traditional stock markets closed on Friday afternoon, catching crypto traders off guard. Bitcoin dropped $3,000 immediately when Trump’s Truth Social post went live. Within hours, the selling pressure spread across all cryptocurrencies. Ethereum fell 12%, Solana dropped nearly 20%, and smaller coins lost even more value. Record-Breaking Liquidations The term “liquidation” means traders lost their borrowed money when prices moved against them. When you trade with borrowed funds, exchanges automatically close your position if losses get too big. Friday’s crash triggered this process for millions of traders at once. Bitcoin and Ethereum saw $1.37 billion and $1.26 billion in liquidations respectively. The largest single loss was $87.53 million on one Bitcoin trade. Long positions—bets that prices would rise—made up $16.83 billion of the total damage. Only $2.49 billion came from short positions betting on falling prices. CoinGlass, which tracks crypto data, confirmed this was…
