Every month, we update you on the biggest events in the crypto market. What's been happening regarding Trump's import tariffs and what's the current status? We'll also delve deeper into the Bitcoin price and the developments surrounding the requested ETFs.

Unpredictable April: Trump's Tariff Twists

April began with sharp lows: on April 2nd, under the guise of 'Liberation Day', new import tariffs were announced that President Trump intended to impose on dozens of countries. After this already caused a slight drop in both the crypto and traditional markets, a severe aftershock hit after the weekend on April 7th.

China also announced the introduction of 34% tariffs, to which the market reacted. Global markets suffered significant losses. Major US exchanges such as Nasdaq and the S&P500 lost 10% in just two days. Bitcoin also fell by around 10%. The main reason for this was the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs. On Saturday, April 5th, Trump's 10% import tariffs were implemented. When the markets reopened on Monday morning, they immediately plummeted. There were whispers that the tariffs would be paused, but after the Trump administration dismissed this as 'fake news', the markets continued to decline.

Status of Import Tariffs

Trump's tariffs have caused considerable turmoil in the global market. One moment the market was rising because he was reportedly in discussions with Japan, the next everything plummeted again because he wanted to impose even more tariffs on China. On April 9th, it was announced that all high tariffs would remain at 10% for the next 90 days, except those for China, causing the markets to rise again.

The so-called 90-day tariff pause gives Trump time to engage in discussions with all countries. A 10% tariff now applies to 75 countries. These countries have not imposed tariffs against the US themselves, so Trump is willing not to increase the tariffs. For China, however, he is not so lenient; for them, he has increased the tariffs to 125%. The pause did bring calm to the market: exchanges rose significantly in double digits. Bitcoin also rose again: compared to Nasdaq, Bitcoin has risen 12% more since Liberation Day.

Discussions are currently underway to conclude new deals, and tariffs won't increase until July 9th. However, 125% tariffs apply, both from China on goods from the US and vice versa. After July 9th, tariffs on goods from the EU are set to increase to 20%.

Dinner with Trump?

The crypto market was also shaken up again last week by an action from Trump that had nothing to do with international trade. Investors can be invited to a dinner with Trump. This invitation is only received if you are one of the top 220 holders of the Official Trump (TRUMP) coin. This action naturally led to a huge increase of 50% in the Trump coin. The more tokens you hold and the longer you hold them, the higher you rank and the greater the chance you'll get to attend the dinner.

This action does lead to some discussion: not only is Trump deliberately influencing the market and his own coin, but it's also said that you 'buy your way in' to this dinner. The value of the coin has since fallen by 10%. Experts fear a conflict of interest: if Trump can exert such significant influence on the crypto market for his own gain in this way, he may well continue to exploit it. That shouldn't be allowed in his position of power.

Bitcoin climbs back up

Bitcoin also had a tough time at the start of the month, with declines of up to 12%. After the tariff pause brought calm back to the market, Bitcoin had the opportunity to climb back up. On April 22nd, the Bitcoin price jumped by over 9%, breaking through the $91,000 mark. This was partly due to the high inflows into Bitcoin ETFs: BlackRock‘s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw an inflow of around $970 million, which was the second-highest inflow to date.

IBIT currently manages over $54 billion in assets and represents more than half of the market share in this category. In total, more than $3 billion flowed into Bitcoin ETF funds. This clearly indicates renewed confidence from large players and institutional investors in the cryptocurrency.

Rise has multiple causes

Within a few weeks, the price of Bitcoin has risen from $74,500 to $95,500, an increase of around +25%. Besides the increased calm in the market and large inflows into ETFs, there was another reason for the rise, namely over $300 million in short liquidations. This occurred because a large number of traders who had bet on a price decrease in Bitcoin had to close their positions by buying back Bitcoin when the price rose. This massive buy-back action created significant buying pressure in the market, which further pushed the price of Bitcoin upwards.

The price increase also coincided with Bitcoin reclaiming its 'short-term holder realised price band', suggesting that recent buyers are profitable again and selling pressure is decreasing. This is the average purchase price of Bitcoin that has moved in the last 155 days. When the current market price trades above this level, it means that the majority of recent buyers are back in profit. This is typically a positive sign and brings renewed confidence to the market.

Technically, Bitcoin appears to be breaking out of a bullish 'falling wedge' pattern, which consists of two downward sloping lines. The trajectory of these lines, where the difference between peaks and troughs becomes increasingly minimal, suggests that selling pressure is waning. If the price moves above the upper 'wedge', this is a signal of a trend reversal. Analysts even see a potential rally towards $100,000 and a price of approximately $102,700 by May in this 'falling wedge'. To what extent these predictions will materialise is, of course, uncertain, but it is good to see that after a tough month, Bitcoin is once again showing how strong the cryptocurrency is.