Things went from bad to worse for crypto assets on Friday as US President Trump said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China, sending prices cascading into a flash crash.
Bitcoin which was already trading weakly around $117,000 following Trump’s late morning comments about threats of tariffs on China, fell below $110,000, down 12% in the past 24 hours. Ether fell 16% below $3,700, while other major altcoins Solana And crashed by 20-30%. The native tokens of chain link and Aave fell by up to 40%
Friday’s market collapse led to more than $7 billion in liquidations from traders betting on higher prices, according to CoinGlass.
The latest flare-up in U.S.-China trade tensions came when Trump said he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods in response to Chinese controls on exports of rare earth metals. Then, after traditional markets closed for the week, it announced in a Truth Social article 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 fell by $3,000 immediately as this post went live.
This violent price action is historic, with some analysts comparing it to the stock market crash of March 2020 caused by confinements linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-level nukes,” prominent trader Bob Loukas said of the crash in an X-article. “Wow, nasty, nasty action. But also a great candidate for the mother of shakeouts,” he added.
“Brutal day,” said Ram Ahluwalia, founder of investment firm Lumida Wealth. “The Trump news combined with ‘overbought’ conditions led to a sharp decline.”
“I know there are a lot of emotions right now and this color is in the top 3 of all time,” posted popular trader Pentoshi, adding that altcoins have fallen as violently as during the COVID crash. “There are a lot of people who are suffering incredibly right now, myself included.”
“The altcoin complex has been completely gutted,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder and CIO of crypto hedge fund Split Capital. “We are at levels not seen in over a year when it comes to altcoins. Complete leverage reset and market dislocation.”
Read more: Trump’s China Tariff Threat Sends Bitcoin Below $119,000
UPDATE (October 10, 2025, 9:55 p.m. UTC): Adds an updated liquidation figure.
UPDATE (October 10, 2025, 10:12 p.m. UTC): Adds comments from traders.
