As Donald Trump appears to be seriously considering annexing Greenland, financial markets are gripped by fear. Bitcoin (BTC) has once again fallen below $90,000, stock markets are wavering, and gold has surpassed $4,800 for the first time. Let’s take a closer look.
Bitcoin (BTC) Falls Back Below $90,000, Dragging Down the Crypto Market
It comes as no surprise that Bitcoin (BTC) and the rest of the cryptocurrency market have been in a phase of uncertainty for several months. Since November, BTC has been unsuccessfully attempting to reclaim the famous $100,000 mark, but after climbing to nearly $98,000 last week, the asset finally fell back, dipping below $90,000 overnight.
As of this writing, one bitcoin is trading at $89,500, down 1.58% over the past 24 hours.
With more than $1 billion in liquidations in the derivatives markets on Monday, this was a black day for the crypto market—the worst since November 21:
Daily liquidation amounts on crypto derivatives over the past 90 days
Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, some declines are more pronounced than others, such as ETH and BNB, which are down 4.6% and 4.2% respectively; HYPE, which is down 7.7%; and, worst of all, XMR, which has plummeted by nearly 16%.
While Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded outflows of $483.38 million and $229.95 million, respectively, the stock markets as a whole appear to have been gripped by fear.
A fear shared by the stock markets
As a result, the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq each closed Monday down 1.76%, 2.06%, and 2.39%, respectively. While we’ll have to wait and see investor sentiment when European markets open this morning, the CAC 40 ended Monday down 0.61%, while the DAX fell 1.03%.
Asian markets, for their part, were less affected, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.47% and the Shanghai Stock Exchange up slightly by 0.08%.
In contrast, gold is breaking record after record, posting a gain of more than 12% since the start of the year after surpassing $4,800 per ounce in the last few hours:
Daily gold prices
Once again, this climate of fear stems from the United States, as Donald Trump attempts to take American imperialism to a whole new level. What seemed like nothing more than a joke at the start of his term—the potential annexation of Greenland—has become a much more serious issue in recent days, putting European military forces on high alert.
Expected this afternoon at the Davos Economic Forum, the U.S. president could reveal more about his intentions, though for now he has limited himself to brandishing his favorite threat: tariffs.
For example, Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 200% on French wines or to add a 10% tariff on all goods from several European countries—including France, Denmark, and Germany—starting February 1, rising to 25% in June. While the European Union (EU) and the United States had agreed on tariffs of around 15% last year, the EU is now threatening to suspend that agreement.
