Trump’s Tariff Shock Causes $19B Crypto Meltdown: Traders Flee! 💥🚨

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Ah, the cryptocurrency world-where fortunes are made and lost with the flick of a presidential pen! On October 10, the good ol’ U.S. of A. made a grand announcement: Donald Trump, the master of dramatic policy shifts, declared a 100% tariff on Chinese imports! And what did this lead to? Oh, just a small matter of $19 billion in liquidations. Yep, you heard it right-*$19 billion* vanished into the ether, leaving over 1.6 million traders clutching their keyboards in despair. 😱

Trump, in his infinite wisdom, took to his social media platform to announce that tariffs on Chinese goods would double and that strict controls would be put on software exports. He even went as far as calling China’s actions “hostile.” A statement that, naturally, had the world’s markets reeling. What followed was chaos. Equity markets crashed, oil took a dive, and, of course, the crypto market was hit the hardest, with investors scrambling to safety in gold and U.S. Treasuries. Oh, the drama!

$19 Billion in Liquidations: The Scope

As if the market needed any more drama, Coinglass confirmed that a record $19.38 billion was wiped out in just 24 hours. In that massive sum, $16.87 billion were long positions (you know, those brave bets that the market would go up) and $2.51 billion were short positions (people betting against the market). The panic was *palpable*: within just an hour of Trump’s post, nearly $7 billion in positions disappeared into the void. The most tragic? A $203.36 million ETH-USDT position on Hyperliquid-poor souls!

Ravi Doshi, co-head of markets at FalconX, summed it up beautifully: “The tariff news was the ignition, and it lit the fuse under a market full of leveraged bets.” Well said, Ravi. 🎯

Bitcoin: Massive Hit to Long Positions

Bitcoin, that ever-glorious leader of the crypto market, took the hardest hit. In a single day, it plummeted more than 12%, dropping from a high of over $126,000 to a mere $102,000. Just like that, $5.39 billion worth of BTC positions were liquidated-$4.69 billion from longs and $703.79 million from shorts. By midday, Bitcoin was hanging on at around $111,500, its market cap still a hefty $2.22 trillion, but with trading volumes surging over 140%. Talk about a rollercoaster ride! 🎢

Ethereum: Breaking $4,000 Support

Ethereum followed in Bitcoin’s footsteps, falling roughly 12-13% and dropping below the crucial $4,000 mark, landing at $3,808. A total of $4.45 billion worth of ETH positions were wiped out-most of them long positions. Looks like Ethereum’s grip on that $4,000 support was about as solid as a wet paper towel.

Altcoins Crushed: SOL, XRP, DOGE

Let’s not forget the little guys. Solana (SOL) took a dive of nearly 18%, slipping to about $182.5. That’s $2.02 billion in SOL positions down the drain. XRP didn’t fare much better, falling to $2.44 after a 13% dip, with $709.98 million in liquidations. And then, there was Dogecoin (DOGE)-oh, Dogecoin. Falling a brutal 24% to $0.19, with a total of $475.31 million in liquidations. Retail traders-good luck! 🙃

It was a bloodbath across the board. Leverage in the derivatives market had traders betting big on upside, with little to no room for error. The consequences? Well, as you can guess, *chaos*. 💸

Market Snapshot & Broader Impact

The entire crypto market cap shrank by a staggering 9.2%, from $4.30 trillion to $3.76 trillion in just one day. Bitcoin’s dominance increased to 59.8%, while Ethereum held 12.2%. The remaining 27.9%? Well, that’s for the rest of the market to fight over. Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped from 64 (Greed) to 27 (Fear), its steepest fall since the COVID crash. Who knew tariffs could spark such a crisis?

What Comes Next?

With all that leverage, the crypto market remains on a precarious cliff edge. All eyes are now on China’s response to Trump’s tariffs and how his policies will evolve. Oh, and let’s not forget: these tariffs won’t kick in until November 1, giving traders plenty of time to fret and worry. 😬

Some argue that this “flush-out” was necessary to reset the market. Brian Strugats, head trader at Multicoin Capital, believes that the purge could lead to healthier rallies down the line. But hey, if you lost everything, I guess you’ll just have to trust the process, right? 😅

October 10 will go down in history as a landmark crypto crash-one where a single policy shift erased nearly $20 billion from the markets in a blink of an eye. And to think, it all started with a tweet. 📲

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2025-10-11 17:58