When the Trump tariffs began to be announced on Wednesday, Bitcoin shot up to just over $88,600. However, as it became clear that the tariffs were a lot more onerous than the market was expecting, the ensuing 7% dump caused a cascade of liquidations among traders as more than $6,000 was wiped off of the Bitcoin price in the space of around 4 hours.

Market did not anticipate the full extent of tariffs

The Wall Street Journal published a report before President Trump’s announcement on reciprocal tariffs that a 10% baseline tariff would be imposed upon all countries. It did mention that some countries would pay higher tariffs, but according to the Kobeissi Letter on X, it seems that the market was taking it that 10% would generally be levied across the board.

Long and short traders …