Bitcoin Drops to $115K Amid Trump’s Tariff Move and Market Volatility

Bitcoin (BTC) price has dropped to a three-week low of $115K. The drop in price was noticed after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose higher tariffs on multiple trading partners of the USA. Predictably, the reaction of the crypto market was swift. The broader sell-off in the Asian stock markets signals the rising tension among investors over the ever-escalating trade tension and the global economic uncertainty.

Bitcoin (BTC) Drops to $115K

The premier cryptocurrency is now down 6.5% from its all-time high of $122,800 recorded on July 14. Market data from TradingView shows Bitcoin breaking below a key support range, potentially opening the door to further declines toward the $111K level if buyer momentum doesn’t return.

The sell-off was swift and widespread. In the past 24 hours alone, $110 billion has been wiped from spot crypto markets, with 158,000 traders liquidated and $630 million in long positions erased, according to CoinGlass. Analysts attribute the volatility to a combination of macroeconomic pressure and speculative profit-taking.

President Trump’s new executive order, signed late Thursday, raises tariffs on several key U.S. trading partners. Canada, previously hit with a 25% levy, now faces 35% duties. Other countries, including South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Thailand, will see tariffs between 19% and 39% after failing to reach trade agreements.

Meanwhile, deals with major allies like the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom have been finalized and made official through the same order.

Although the White House earlier this week released a crypto-friendly policy report that was seen as bullish for the sector, it wasn’t enough to counteract the negative market sentiment triggered by the new trade tariffs.

Stock markets across Asia opened lower on Friday, mirroring the downturn in crypto markets. Henrik Andersson, Chief Investment Officer at Apollo Capital, noted the market reaction was largely driven by uncertainty surrounding the tariffs.

“Combined with the uncertainty over tariffs, it is natural to see some profit taking after a very strong run both in equities and crypto markets. If a deal with China can be made, it would remove a lot of the current uncertainty in our opinion,” Andersson told Cointelegraph.

Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, described the decline as a temporary correction rather than a long-term trend reversal. “While tariffs contributed to the pullback, the dump was likely exacerbated by profit-taking after recent ATHs, lingering geopolitical tensions, and U.S. macro uncertainty,” he said.

Despite the drop, July still marked a historic milestone for Bitcoin. It closed the month at $115,784, its highest-ever monthly close, according to TradingView. While it wasn’t the largest monthly gain (that title belongs to November 2024 when BTC surged $26,000 following Trump’s election), it underscores the resilience of the crypto market despite mounting headwinds.

As traders look to the next support levels and geopolitical developments, especially potential progress on a U.S.-China trade deal, volatility is expected to remain high in both crypto and traditional markets.