Bitcoin Sinks and Stocks Rise After US, China Scale Back Tariffs

Bitcoin and major altcoins surged early Monday, but then dipped after the U.S. and China announced that they were scaling back the Draconian tariffs on one another that have been weighing on investors for weeks.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $102,600, down 1.5% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Bitcoin briefly rose above $105,500—for the first time since January—before U.S. markets opened, but then retreated.

“Bitcoin’s rally above $105,000 this morning appears to be a direct response to the easing of U.S.-China trade tensions,” wrote Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, in a text to Decrypt. “The announcement of a 90-day tariff truce has injected optimism into global markets.”

DiPasquale added that the “escalation […] also enhances the appeal of decentralized assets like Bitcoin, which are often viewed as hedges against geopolitical uncertainty.”

However, DiPasquale noted warily “that this truce is temporary, and the underlying trade issues remain unresolved, which could reintroduce volatility in the near future. Bitcoin’s pullback from its $105K high underscores just how sensitive the market remains to shifting macro narratives — especially when moves are driven more by sentiment than structural flows.

Following weekend talks, the U.S. and China said that the countries each would cut their retaliatory tariffs on one another from 125% to 10% for 90 days, while they continue to discuss the ongoing trade war.

Those penalties have been weighing heavily on investors for weeks amid fears that they were would raise prices and trigger a global recession. However, risk-on assets have risen over the past three weeks amid hopeful signs that the U.S. would ratchet back its trade war—not only against China, but other major partners. Last week, the Trump administration and UK announced they had reached a new trade deal, although they were short on specifics.

Ethereum, which has been outpacing Bitcoin over the past month—a reversal of previous trends—was changing hands under $2,490, up 1% on the day following an overnight surge to nearly $2,600. ETH has soared about 51% from a month ago.

The tokens of Solana and Cardano are both up on the day, about 2% and 4% respectively, while Dogecoin rose another 1.4% on the day to push its weekly gain to a massive 37%.

Equities spiked on Monday’s news, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing 3.4% and the S&P 500 up more than 2.4%. Both indexes have risen more than 7% over the past month, with most of those gains occurring since late April.

Bitcoin has jumped roughly 21% over the past month, with some analysts saying that it has appeared to behave more like a safe-haven asset of late.

“Investor sentiment may find support from the growing political engagement with crypto– particularly as figures like Vice President JD Vance prepare to take the stage at Bitcoin Vegas on May 28th, signaling that digital assets are increasingly part of the national economic conversation,” BitBull’s DiPasquale said.

UPDATE (May 12, 2025, 12:25 p.m. ET): Adds to quote from DiPasquale. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward