XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) plunged over 10% to lead losses among crypto major as confirmation of fresh U.S. tariffs on China hit Asian markets on Friday, adding to an already tumultuous week for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 7% to near $79,000 for the first time since November, down nearly 30% since its January peak of above $108,000. Ether (ETH), Cardano’s ADA and BNB Chain’s BNB showed similar woes with a slide of at least 9%.
Overall market capitalization fell 8% to $2.7 trillion, reversing all advances since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in early November. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) dropped nearly 9%.
A solid earnings from Nvidia on Wednesday was not enough to offset the onsetting market gloom as global equities faltered on a combination of renewed tariff concerns, a slowing economy and overstretched positioning, which has naturally spilled over to crypto given BTC’s high correlation with the S&P 500 index, traders say.
“On a YTD basis, ex-BTC tokens and trading sentiment have struggled mightily with liquidity being depleted from the numerous memecoin runs, and BTC also buckled from the weight of ETF selling, which hit a record high last week,” Augustine Fan, head of insights at SignalPlus, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.
Friday’s losses in crypto markets mirrored those of Chinese stocks, which slumped after Trump announced a new 10% tariff on Chinese imports. This added to worries about a growing trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.
The new tariff adds to an existing 10% tax on Chinese goods that started earlier this month. This could hurt China’s economy, which faces a property crisis and falling prices. It might also stop a stock market rise fueled by China’s AI advances — led by ChatGPT rival DeepSeek.
The move comes ahead of China’s big annual meeting, the National People’s Congress, starting next week, where leaders are expected to share economic plans and growth goals.
A decision of China to spend more or encourage buying to boost the economy could impact bitcoin and crypto prices and serve as a market catalyst — making it a key data point to watch for next week.
However, the mood remains bearish among some bitcoin traders until then.
“Bullish option speculators are throwing in the towel as well, with volatility coming lower against a lower spot price as calls are being dumped in favour of puts,” SignalPlus’ Fan said.
“Finally, concerns over MSTR (-10%) are adding an extra element of risk to BTC, given their convertible funded buying, putting bearish sentiment at a near-term extreme on many technical indicators.”
