Bitcoin plunged on Tuesday to a three-month low below $90,000 after a string of weak economic reports and Trump’s threatened tariffs pushed investors to abandon risky assets.
By Tuesday afternoon in New York, Bitcoin was down to $87,000. It dropped as much as 8.5%, its largest intraday decline since August.
Other cryptocurrencies including Ether, XRP and Solana also plummeted – a sharp turnaround for the industry after its bullish run late last year.
Bitcoin had rallied on President Trump’s campaign as he promised to relax regulatory oversight on the industry, soaring above $75,000 for the first time in November after he won the election.
It peaked above $102,000 on his inauguration day – but has since fallen 20% due to growing macroeconomic concerns.
The Nasdaq 100 has similarly suffered its worst four-day drop since September after a series of disappointing economic reports.
“In the near-term, we think that volatility in the high beta Nasdaq 100 index and heavy selling in tech stocks has led to selling in Bitcoin as well,” Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report, told The Post.
“Longer-term we think that Bitcoin will make new highs over $150,000, but that does not rule out sharp pullbacks along the way, possibly to $75,000,” he added.
The Consumer Price Index, released earlier this month, showed inflation unexpectedly ticked up the month before.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has hinted the central bank will refrain from cutting interest rates anytime soon – and economists have even suggested that policymakers may hike rates this year.
On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence in February dropped to its lowest level since June 2024 due to economic uncertainty.
Trump said on Monday the tariffs – which economists have warned could reheat inflation – would “go forward” after halting them earlier this month.
Bitcoin, a high volatility so-called “risk asset,” has been hit doubly hard by industry-specific scandals, which explains why it’s fared worse than other technology stocks.
Hackers last week stole a record $1.5 billion of Ether from major crypto exchange Bybit. The record-breaking heist worsened fears around the safety of digital asset platforms.
Meanwhile, a memecoin Argentine President Javier Milei plugged on his social media crashed soon after launching. Investors have accused the coin’s developers of a “rug pull” – selling to later buyers at a higher price and allowing early buyers to sell and cash out fast.
The coin’s website had claimed funds from the launch would go toward helping Argentine businesses.
Memecoins launched by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have also performed poorly, trading at around $13 and less than $1, respectively.
Shares of crypto-related companies also fell on Tuesday.
Crypto exchange platform Coinbase Global slipped more than 7%, down 29% over the past week. Both Strategy, previously known as MicroStrategy, and Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings fell about 10% on Tuesday, down nearly 30% over the past month.
