Bitcoin, Ethereum Dive Alongside Stocks as Trump Threatens ‘Massive’ China Tariffs

Crypto prices plunged alongside stock market indices early Friday after President Donald Trump threatened to ratchet up tariffs on China.

Bitcoin dove below $119,000 for the first time since October 2, and was recently trading for $119,028—down 1.7% on the day. But other leading cryptocurrencies saw sharper dips, with Ethereum and Solana both down almost 5% in the last hour alone, to prices of $4,107 and $211 respectively.

Crypto market liquidations have skyrocketed amid the plunge, with CoinGlass showing $459 million worth of liquidations in the last hour alone—the vast majority of them being long positions. Over the last 24 hours, nearly $773 million worth of positions have been liquidated.

The Nasdaq is down 1.77% so far Friday, with the S&P 500 down 1.25% and the Dow dipping by 0.83%.

“Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the U.S.A.” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “One of the policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”

This isn’t the first time that Trump’s tariff war has impacted the markets. Back in April, Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on 185 countries prompted Bitcoin to drop 1.1% in an hour while the S&P 500 lost more than $2 trillion in market capitalization in just 15 minutes.

Since then, the president has had a hot and cold relationship with tariffs as he has regularly eased and hiked tariffs against several nations and economic groups—including China.

Trump’s most recent tariff move happens as the U.S. government is in the midst of an ongoing shutdown. During this period, most federal agencies are partially closed, with only essential employees permitted to keep working.

That said, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has confirmed that it will release its September 2025 Consumer Price Index, which measures the rate of inflation in the U.S., on October 24. However, no further releases will be produced until the government resumes.

Despite the increased tariff tensions, a price drop, and an ongoing government shutdown, 45% of predictors on Myriad Markets are bullish that Bitcoin will pump to $140,000 before it drops to $110,000. (Disclosure: Myriad Markets is developed by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN.)

Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with additional context.