The crypto market rebounded on Monday, just days after traders experienced the worst crypto liquidation event in history. Bitcoin is up 3% in the past 24 hours and is now near $115,00, according to Binance data. Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is up even more, gaining nearly 9% to hover around $4,130. After falling below $4 trillion on Friday, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell almost 5% over the past day to $4.01 trillion.
The ripple in cryptocurrency prices follows a disastrous Friday that saw more than $19 billion in traders’ positions evaporate. This is the largest single-day liquidation event ever tracked by crypto analytics firm CoinGlass. In less than 24 hours, Bitcoin lost over $200 billion in market capitalization and its price fell by almost 10%. And Ethereum was hit even harder, falling almost 14%.
The market chaos has even affected stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies linked to the US dollar. USDe, one of the largest stablecoins by market capitalization, fell to as low as 65 cents on crypto exchange Binance before quickly rebounding to $1. The depegging event was only related to Binance, and not other exchanges, Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs, the developer behind USDe, said on Sunday.
The market turmoil follows a Friday social media post from President Donald Trump in which he threatened the People’s Republic of China with 100% tariffs “on top of” existing tariffs imposed on the country. “We just learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive stance on trade by sending an extremely hostile letter to the world,” Trump said on Truth Social, the social media site his family owns.
Trump’s message follows recent trade restrictions imposed by China on rare earth metals and related technologies. The country is the world’s largest producer of rare earths, which include metals needed to produce everyday technologies like batteries and flat-screen TVs, and even fighter jets.
But soon after Trump launched his trade threats against China on Friday, he and his administration walked back some of his most aggressive rhetoric. “Don’t worry about China, everything will be fine!” he posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “The United States wants to help China, not harm it!!! »
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Trump in an interview Monday morning with Fox Business. While Bessent criticized China’s restrictions on rare earths, he said the administration had “significantly de-escalated” trade tensions with China since Trump’s threats and that there had been “substantial communication” over the weekend.
“I think China is open to a discussion on this topic,” Bessent added.
The stock market reacted favorably. After falling 3% on Friday, the S&P 500 opened up 1% on Monday.
