Bitcoin retreats to $90,000 after failing to hold $92,000 on Trump’s tariff announcement

Bitcoin slipped back toward the $90,000 mark after a brief attempt to sustain levels above $92,000 on Tuesday. The pullback came after former US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on any country trading with Iran. The cryptocurrency was trading at $91,821 level on Tuesday.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum were down by 0.14% and 0.75% respectively. Among the major altcoins, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, and Hyperliquid were down by over 2% in the past 24 hours whereas in the same period, BNB, Tron were up by 0.12% and 0.07% respectively.

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CoinSwitch Markets Desk said that BTC briefly broke above $92K before pulling back toward $90K and post the comments by Donald Trump announcing a 25% tariff on any country trading with Iran, added geopolitical uncertainty into markets.

At the same time, traditional safe-haven assets rallied sharply, with gold surging past $4,500 and silver also rallying, and BTC ETFs recorded over $650 million in net outflows over the past week, effectively erasing much of the optimism seen at the start of the year, CoinSwitch Markets Desk added.

In the past week, Bitcoin and Ethereum were down by 2.06% and 2.80% respectively. Among the major altcoins, BNB, Solana, and Tron were up by over 2% in the past week, whereas XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, and Hyperliquid were down by over 13% in the same period.

Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus, said that Bitcoin is trading around $91,000 on Tuesday to extend a phase of consolidation after the sharp volatility seen earlier this month and the world’s largest crypto asset moved between $90,000 and $92,300 in the latest session, which reflects that the market is neither decisively risk-on nor meaningfully risk-off.

Subburaj highlighted that one notable development has been the return of modest inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and after several sessions of significant redemptions in early January, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of about $187 million on January 12.

Here is what other analysts say

CoinDCX Research Team

Bitcoin continues to consolidate within the same price range, appearing to be accumulating gains before the next price action. However, in the broader perspective, the star crypto maintains a strong ascending trend, which could have kept the markets at par.

President Trump warned that if the Supreme Court overturns US tariffs, the US could face hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars in liabilities, which could be bullish for crypto markets.

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Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange

Bitcoin and Ethereum remain stuck in a holding pattern as macro uncertainty continues to outweigh short-term bullish narratives. Bitcoin’s brief push above $92,000 following headlines around a potential US Justice Department investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell failed to trigger sustained follow-through, highlighting how headline-driven rallies are struggling to gain traction without stronger underlying demand.

With US CPI data imminent, crypto markets appear positioned for volatility. Until macro clarity improves and fund flows stabilise, both Bitcoin and Ethereum are likely to remain range-bound, with any breakout requiring confirmation from renewed institutional participation rather than headlines alone

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)