The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp decline on Friday evening following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs targeting Chinese imports. Bitcoin (BTC) led the downturn, briefly falling below $106,000 for the first time in recent weeks.
Bitcoin dropped approximately 12% to a low of $105,896, while Ethereum (ETH) slid nearly 17%, dipping beneath the $3,600 mark. This significant sell-off was accompanied by a broad risk-off sentiment across the crypto landscape.
Major altcoins echoed the downward trend, which pulled the total cryptocurrency market capitalization down by roughly 15%, descending to $3.59 trillion based on data from CoinGecko.
XRP was particularly hard hit, plunging 31% amid warnings from market analysts about a potential price crash. The token’s price fell to $1.90, marking its lowest point since November 2024, while its market capitalization contracted by 15% to $115 billion.
Binance Coin (BNB) managed to remain above the $1,000 benchmark despite recording a nearly 20% loss over the day. On the other hand, Story’s IP suffered the steepest decline, plummeting 61%. Dogecoin, the largest meme cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also dropped 39%.
Liquidations soared in tandem with the market decline, with nearly $7.44 billion in leveraged positions liquidated within just the past hour. Over the preceding 24 hours, total liquidations reached an unprecedented $9 billion, marking the largest single-day crypto liquidation event in history. Approximately $7.5 billion of these liquidations were from long positions, according to data from Coinglass.
This market sell-off followed President Trump’s announcement of an imminent 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The tariffs are planned to take effect on November 1st, 2025, as a response to recently imposed export controls by China on rare earth minerals.
Trump detailed the rationale behind the tariffs in a post on Truth Social, describing China’s export restrictions as an “extraordinarily aggressive position” and “unheard of in international trade.” He also criticized the policy as a “moral disgrace” that affects all countries without exception.
As these geopolitical tensions unfold, market participants continue to grapple with uncertainty that has driven heightened volatility in the crypto sector.
