Bitcoin plunged to a near one-month low in early Monday trading, extending a week-long decline as global markets reeled from escalating economic tensions triggered by new trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The move, widely criticized as a spark for a global trade war, has deeply shaken investor confidence and slashed appetite for riskier assets.
Markets are bracing for a potential repeat of “Black Monday” — a reference to the 1987 market crash — as mounting losses across major indices and asset classes raise concerns of a broader financial rout.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 7% to $77,171 before staging a slight recovery to $78,291 late Monday night. The slump brings Bitcoin close to its lowest levels in nearly a month, with overall losses accelerating in recent days.
Cryptocurrency markets have closely tracked global equities in their downturn, with total crypto market capitalization shedding nearly $500 billion since last week. The sharp sell-off has come amid heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
President Trump’s tariffs have already erased around $4 trillion from global stock markets since last Wednesday. As countries threatened by the tariffs vowed to retaliate, investors rushed toward traditional safe-haven assets like gold and the Japanese yen — leaving speculative markets, particularly crypto, exposed.
Adding to the pressure on Bitcoin, traders flagged the movement of nearly $160 million worth of BTC to the exchange Kraken, suggesting a potential large-scale sell-off by a major holder — or “whale” — which could further dampen market sentiment.
The fear of further equity losses spreading into crypto has left traders on edge, fueling talk of a new “Black Monday” if U.S. markets continue to plunge through the day.
The broader cryptocurrency market mirrored Bitcoin’s fall, with major altcoins suffering significant losses. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped nearly 13% to $1,577 — its weakest level since October 2023.
XRP slipped 11.4% to $1.90, while Solana, Cardano, and Polygon each tumbled over 10%. Meme tokens also felt the pain: Dogecoin fell 13%, and the politically-themed $TRUMP token sank 15% to an all-time low of $7.87.
