Bitcoin (BTC) doubled down on its divergence from stocks at the April 21 Wall Street open as US trade war tensions escalated.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Trade war reactions fuel BTC price gains
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD matching month-to-date highs above $88,000.
Bitcoin continued higher after the weekly close to catch up with gold as the latter set fresh all-time highs of $3,430 per ounce.
XAU/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
By contrast, stock markets came under renewed selling pressure, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both down over 2% at the time of writing.
Newfound BTC price strength thus appeared to end lockstep trading with equities as part of reactions to trade-war headlines.
These included warnings about the deterioration of relations with the US from both China and Japan, while US President Donald Trump renewed existing attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates.
Source: Donald Trump
“Technology stocks have gotten crushed again over the last week. Nvidia, NVDA, is down over -15% since last Monday while multiple other Mag 7 stocks are down 10%+,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter wrote in part of a reaction thread on X.
“Without technology stocks, this market cannot bottom.”S&P 500 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Kobeissi also referenced downside pressure on the US Dollar Index (DXY), which traded at its lowest levels since March 2022.
“While the USD, DXY, falls to a new 52-week low below 99, Bitcoin and Gold are surging,” it summarized.
“Markets need trade deals ASAP.”US dollar index (DXY) vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
Bitcoin “institutional confidence returning”
Continuing, trading firm QCP Capital struck an optimistic tone.
Related: US dollar goes ‘no-bid’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Bitcoin, it argued in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers, seemed to be sharing some of gold’s limelight as a hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty after months of failure.
“With equities finishing last week in…
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