Bitcoin falls, ether slammed after Trump's tariffs cause global risk-off move

Cryptocurrencies tumbled in a risk-off move after President Donald Trump hit Canada, Mexico and China with long-threatened import tariffs.

The price of bitcoin fell 1.5% Monday to $96,435.35 — down from a price above $102,000 before the weekend, according to Coin Metrics. The U.S. dollar index, which has an inverse relationship with bitcoin, was up nearly 1%.

Shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy lost 6% and 5%, respectively.

The slide in cryptocurrencies began Saturday evening after Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10% duty on China. It accelerated Sunday night. The U.S. does about $1.6 trillion in business with the three countries.

"Bulls are de-leveraging massively at the moment as everyone watches closely to see if we get negotiation or a trade war," James Davies, CEO and co-founder at trading platform Crypto Valley Exchange. "But, $110,000 and $120,000 are still the largest call open interest points, so really volatility is the biggest bet being made."

Bitcoin has seen $376.6 million in long liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Ether saw $476.9 million.

"This is uncommon, especially given the size of liquidations — larger than the Covid Crash and the FTX meltdown — which makes it the largest liquidation event in the history of the industry," Philipp Zentner, CEO at crypto routing firm LI.FI, told CNBC. "With over $2 billion in leveraged positions being wiped out ... this event has significantly impacted the market."

Bitcoin's down move was more modest than that of other cryptocurrencies. Ether plunged 12% to around $2,600. It was trading above $3,300 Friday. Meme coins were among the hardest hit.

Jeff Park, Bitwise Asset Management's head of alpha strategies, said a sustained tariff war would be "amazing" for bitcoin in the long-run due to an eventual weakening of the dollar and U.S. rates.

While many believe bitcoin is a hedge against inflation and uncertainty over the long term, it trades like a risk asset in the short term — and could endure further pain this month due to uncertainty around the trade war triggered by Trump's tariffs.

"Digital assets will eventually like today's [U.S. Treasury] yield mix (higher break-evens and lower real yields) but it will take outright nominal yields to roll lower at some stage (on growth fears) to solidify that," Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, said in a note Monday. "Until then we may be in for a choppy few days where the $90,000 level in BTC is again at risk."

Investors are watching $90,000 as the key support level in bitcoin, and some have warned of an even deeper pullback toward $80,000 should the cryptocurrency meaningfully break below its support.

Bitcoin is about 12% off its Jan. 20 record of $109,350.72. Seasoned crypto investors and traders have become accustomed over the years to corrections of around 30% during bull markets.

—CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting