Bitcoin dropped sharply, with the price breaking below $119,000 on Friday as stocks and crypto reacted to President Donald Trumpโs comments about China.
Summary
- Bitcoin fell sharply on Friday to touch lows of $118,500 amid losses on Wall Street.
- Dow Jones plunged more than 500 points, with U.S. stocks sliding amid broader market downturn.
- Losses across stocks and crypto followed President Donald Trumpโs latest comments on China, including threats to cancel a planned meeting with Xi Jinping.
Bitcoinโs price, which had moved to $122,000 as U.S. stocks opened higher, slumped as the equity market plummeted in reaction to Trumpโs criticism of China regarding global rare-earth metals.
What did Trump say?
On Friday, Trump took to his Truth Social account to comment on what he termed Chinaโs increasingly hostile stance on rare-earth metals.
According to Trump, Beijing has dispatched letters to various countries threatening further export controls on rare earths. Trump threatened to cancel an anticipated meeting with Chinaโs Xi Jinping.
โWe have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere. Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one. I have always felt that theyโve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!โ Trump posted.
He noted that China isnโt the only one with monopoly positions, as the U.S. does too, and said its position is โmuch stronger and far-reaching.โ Trump also mentioned an upcoming meeting with Xi.
โI was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so.โ
Bitcoin retests $118,500 level
As the Dow Jones tanked by over 500 points, Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 2% to near $118,560 across major exchanges.ย
The benchmark cryptocurrency traded just under the $119,000 mark at the time of writing. However, with Trumpโs latest salvo against China triggering jitters around a potential new trade war between the United States and China, it is likely that bears could eye further downside.
Bitcoinโs daily trading volume was up 13% to over $74 billion.
