Friday has gone from bad to worse for crypto assets as US President Trump said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China, causing a sudden drop in prices.
bitcoin which was already trading weak at around $117,000 following Trump’s late morning comments about threatening China with tariffs, fell below $110,000, down 12% in the last 24 hours. Ether crashed 16% below $3,700, while other major altcoins solarium and crashed between 20% and 30%. The native tokens of chain link and bird fell up to 40%
Friday’s market crash sparked more than $7 billion in liquidations by traders betting on higher prices, according to CoinGlass.
The latest flare-up in trade tensions between the United States and China came when Trump said he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods in response to China’s controls on exports of rare earth metals. Then, after traditional markets closed for a week, it announced in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon that it would impose an additional 100% tariff starting November 1.
“Also on November 1 we will impose export controls on all critical software,” he said.
Bitcoin dropped $3,000 immediately at the time the post was published.
The violent price action was unforgettable, with some analysts comparing it to the March 2020 market crash induced by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
“Covid-level nukes,” noted trader Bob Loukas said of the collapse in an
“A brutal day,” said Ram Ahluwalia, founder of investment firm Lumida Wealth. “Trump news combined with ‘overbought’ conditions caused a sharp drop.”
“I know there are a lot of emotions right now and this color is in the top 3 of all time,” well-known trader Pentoshi posted, adding that altcoins fell as violently as they did during the COVID crisis. “There are many people in incredible pain right now, including myself.”
“The altcoin complex was completely gutted,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder and CIO of crypto hedge fund Split Capital. “We are at levels not seen in over a year with respect to altcoins. Full reset of leverage and market dislocation.”
Read More: Trump’s China Tariff Threat Sends Bitcoin Below $119,000
UPDATE (October 10, 2025, 21:55 UTC): Add updated settlement figure.
UPDATE (October 10, 2025, 22:12 UTC): Add comments from traders.
