Crypto Shorts Get Rekt as Bitcoin Rises Following Trump Attack on ‘Loser’ Fed Chair

Bitcoin’s price rose again–even as stocks fell–spurring many traders who bet against the asset to close their positions.

Over the past 24 hours, investors have liquidated more than $97 million in BTC short positions, according to data provider CoinGlass. Investors have closed nearly $180 million in short positions for all cryptocurrencies.

The price of the biggest digital coin by market cap was recently trading at roughly $86,800, gaining 2.7% over the past 24 hours, crypto markets data provider CoinGecko showed. That was down from over $88,200 shortly after U.S. markets opened–its highest point since the end of March, but still well above the $75,000 mark to which it sank earlier in the month as investors fretful about U.S. President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies and other macroeconomic uncertainties veered away from riskier assets.

Traders shorting on the price of Ethereum, the second largest digital asset by market value, have closed more than $26 million in short bets over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum was recently trading for $1,624, roughly flat over the past 24 hours, although that represents an improvement over its recent performance. Ethereum has declined more than 20% over the past month, even as Bitcoin and Solana have gained over the same period.

Solana was recently down more than a percentage point on Monday but Dogecoin, the eighth biggest cryptocurrency, rose about 2.4%, while XRP were up by just 1% amid volatile market activity.

U.S. stocks were trading lower Monday morning New York time, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P500, and Nasdaq all dropping by about 3%. Meanwhile, traditional safe haven gold continued its recent pattern of setting new highs and was recently trading at more than $3420 per ounce.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have largely been trading in line with stocks, but has recently shown signs of decoupling to behave more like a risk-off asset.

Trump has repeatedly unsettled markets since beginning his second term in January, in recent weeks by ordering global trade tariffs then scaling back on many of them. But has ratcheted up tariffs on China, which has reciprocated.

Monday’s stock market sell-off comes after Trump attacked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying that the central bank boss was a “major loser.” President Trump last week complained that the Powell had not lowered interest rates quickly enough and threatened to replace him, an unprecedented move for a U.S. president that many analysts believe would further roil markets and send the economy into a tailspin.

Edited by James Rubin