Bitcoin price today: slumps to $84K on tariffs worries

Investing.com– Bitcoin plummeted to a more than three-month low on Wednesday, as renewed global trade tensions and a major cryptocurrency exchange rattled investor confidence and triggered a broad market sell-off.

At 3:11 p.m. ET (20:11 GMT), Bitcoin fell 4.4% to $84,200.0, its lowest level since Nov. 11. 

Trump’s tariff plans stoke trade war fears

President Donald Trump said he would soon enact a 25% tariff on goods from the European Union, sparking worries about a global trade war. While Trump had previously said he would explore reciprocal tariffs on the EU made had hoped a deal would be made to avoid a deterioration in U.S-EU trade relations. 

Trump also said that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would go into affect on Apr 2, nearly a month later than the initial Mar. 4 deadline.

Bitcoin, crypto hit by broader risk-off move 

Bitcoin tracked a decline in other risk-driven markets, particularly U.S. stocks, as sentiment soured amid a storm of negative factors. 

Wall Street was nursing a string of recent losses as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose more tariffs. Trump on Tuesday raised the prospect of tariffs on copper imports, after earlier stating that his 25% duties on Canada and Mexico will take effect from next week. 

In addition to the tariff jitters, crypto markets were also grappling with the prospect of a U.S. economic slowdown, especially after a raft of weak readings on consumer sentiment.

Weak consumer sentiment points to softer private consumption, which is a major driver of the U.S. economy. 

Bitcoin ETFs see near record outflows of $1 bln, bank says sell-off not done

U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds clocked near record capital outflows this week, as investors pulled out en-masse from risk-driven, speculative assets. 

Data from SoSoValue showed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw an outflow of $1.01 billion on Tuesday- their biggest single-day outflow since March 2024, which was just after the launch of the spot ETFs. 

The outflows reflected a heavy degree of profit-taking among institutional investors, as they tracked steep declines in Bitcoin’s price. The crypto has now given up all gains made since Trump’s election victory in early-November. 

Fidelity’s Fidelity Wise (LON:WISEa) Origin Bitcoin Fund (NYSE:FBTC) and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT) saw the single biggest one-day outflows, of $344.7 million and $164.4 million, respectively.

Standard Chartered (OTC:SCBFF) has cautioned that persistent outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs could put further pressure on the cryptocurrency’s price.

Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Global Head of Digital Asset Research, highlighted the extent of the outflows, pointing out that 10 of 12 spot bitcoin funds saw net withdrawals.

"I do not think the sell-off is over yet," Kendrick said. He estimated that net ETF purchases since the US election are now sitting on losses of around $1.3 billion.

"The average purchase price since then using daily bitcoin closing prices is $97,000," he added.

Crypto price today: altcoins fall, outperforming Bitcoin 

Broader crypto prices rebounded from recent losses on Wednesday, although sentiment remained frail.

World no.2 crypto Ether rose 1.7% to $2,438.80, while XRP rose nearly 4% to $2.28.

Cardano was flat, while Solana, Polygon, Dogecoin, and  $TRUMP fell sharply.

Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.