Bitcoin and ether traders remain in wait-and-watch mode after last week’s tariff shock wiped nearly $20 billion in leveraged positions over the weekend, denting confidence and risk-on sentiment among a majority of market participants.
The market’s mood has since shifted from panic to fragile optimism as both Washington and Beijing toned down their rhetoric, offering a brief pause in what had looked like a brewing trade war.
Bitcoin rose 1.3% in the past 24 hours to about $113,000, while ether traded near $4,100 after briefly crossing $4,200 overnight. Solana added 2.9% to $201.8, XRP gained 2%, and climbed 2.3% to $0.20. The broad market capitalization stands at $3.9 trillion — still about 6% below pre-crash levels, but up 4.4% from Sunday’s lows, data shows.
The mood is improving, if unevenly. The crypto fear and greed index bounced to 38 from Sunday’s extreme reading of 24, signaling traders are tiptoeing back in. FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich called Friday’s collapse “an emotional flush” that forced out weak positions across exchanges:
“The sell-off began as a reaction to tariff headlines, but it escalated into a wave of forced liquidations. Such sweeping moves often mark the market’s short-term bottom — though healing takes time,” he said in an email to CoinDesk.
Friday’s crash, which took bitcoin below its 50- and 200-day moving averages, has historical echoes. Similar washouts in 2020, 2021, and 2024 reset leverage and paved the way for recoveries in the weeks that followed. But in 2022, it took months for confidence to return — a timeline that bargain hunters are now weighing carefully.
Over the weekend, China’s Ministry of Commerce clarified that its rare-earth export curbs were not blanket bans, saying applications would still be licensed. Trump echoed that softer tone, posting that the “U.S.A wants to help China, not hurt it.”
Betting markets on Polymarket now price just a 15% probability of 100% tariffs by November 1, down sharply from 26% at the end of Friday.
The shift eased pressure across risk assets. U.S. equities recouped part of Friday’s loss, and crypto followed in a familiar pattern in recent months where digital assets have tracked macro sentiment rather than decoupling from it.
Meanwhile, The Kobeissi Letter described the crash as “a technical event, not a structural one,” driven by cascading margin calls rather than a fundamental shift in positioning.
Analyst Frank Fetter added that crypto markets “remain far from overbought,” leaving room for a potential relief rally if volatility stays contained.