Bitcoin Surges 7% to $93,400 on U.S.-China Trade Optimism

Bitcoin surged past $93,000 on Tuesday, climbing nearly 7% amid renewed investor optimism and fresh hopes of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose just shy of $93,400 following Trump’s comments, marking its strongest price since early March.

Markets were buoyed by morning remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who reportedly told investors at a closed-door event that the tariff standoff with China was unsustainable. Bessent said de-escalation would come “in the very near future,” characterizing current conditions as a “trade embargo.”

Later in the day, President Trump told reporters at the White House that U.S. tariffs on China “will come down substantially” from the current 145% level, easing fears of an escalating trade war. Trump also mentioned he has no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, following recent pressure to lower interest rates.

Altcoins followed Bitcoin’s upward trend, with Ethereum’s ether (ETH) rising 8% over the past 24 hours to above $1,700. Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 8.6% while Sui’s native token (SUI) jumped 11.7%. The broad-market crypto benchmark advanced 5.2%. The meme coin sector showed even stronger performance, jumping over 15%. Traditional markets also recovered from recent declines, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finishing Tuesday’s session 2.5% and 2.7% higher, respectively. Gold, meanwhile, sharply reversed from its record price of $3,500 during the day and was down 1%.

Bitcoin ETFs booked over $381 million net inflows on Monday, adding to Thursday’s $107 million. “As capital rotates into safe-haven and inflation-hedging assets, BTC and gold are proving to be key beneficiaries of the exodus from USD risk,” analysts at hedge fund QCP Capital said. They highlighted rejuvenating inflows to spot U.S.-listed BTC ETFs and the return of the Coinbase price premium, suggesting renewed demand from American institutional investors.

Despite the price jump, on-chain data points to fragility beneath the surface. Bitcoin’s apparent demand has decreased by 146,000 BTC over the past 30 days—an improvement from the sharp drop in March, but still negative. CryptoQuant’s demand momentum metric, which tracks new investor interest, has deteriorated further to its most bearish level since October 2024. Market liquidity remains soft, with USDT’s market cap growth used as a proxy for crypto liquidity. USDT grew $2.9 billion over the past two months, below its 30-day average. Historically, Bitcoin rallies have coincided with USDT growth above $5 billion, a threshold not yet met in the current market.

The data shows a contrast between long-term and short-term holders. Long-term holders (those holding BTC for more than 155 days) have turned to accumulation, while short-term holders continue to offload their positions. Bitcoin is now facing a key resistance zone between $91,000 and $92,000 at around the “Trader’s On-chain Realized Price” metric, a level that has often served as resistance in bearish conditions. CryptoQuant’s on-chain bull score classified current market conditions as bearish, suggesting a pause or pullback could follow if sentiment weakens.