President Donald Trump's announcement that he would not impose tariffs scheduled for Feb. 1 triggered a sharp reversal in risk assets, with Bitcoin rebounding above $90,000 after testing $87,300 earlier in the session.
The move erased most of a two-day selloff driven by trade-war fears tied to Trump's Greenland push, confirming Bitcoin's status as a high-beta macro asset that amplifies directional swings when geopolitical headlines shift quickly.
Gold and silver tumbled following the announcement, suggesting the return of risk-on sentiment. Gold fell from around $4,850 to $4,777 per ounce, while silver dropped from roughly $93 to $90.60 per ounce. Both metals, however, recovered around 1% overnight, while Bitcoin remained flat near $90,000.
The flight-to-safety bid that had supported precious metals during the tariff scare unwound as traders rotated back into risk assets.
As of press time, Bitcoin traded at $90,213.45, up 2.1% in one hour and 2% on the day. CoinGlass data shows that the rebound forced $160 million in short liquidations in just one hour, pushing total liquidations on Jan. 21 above $1 billion across long and short positions.
How Greenland became a tariff threat
Over the weekend and into early week, Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland morphed into a trade-war-style threat. He announced extra tariffs on goods from several European countries starting Feb. 1, with escalation language tied to securing a Greenland deal.
That framing turned a geopolitical oddity into a tangible risk-off trigger. Equities sold off, the dollar strengthened, and Bitcoin slid under $92,000 as traders repriced tail risk around a renewed trade conflict.
Between Jan. 19 and 20, the tariff fears had spread beyond crypto. A broad selloff across risk assets sent Bitcoin down as much as 7% amid the shock. Crypto-specific pressure intensified because leveraged positioning amplified the move.
CoinGlass liquidation data showed ongoing long liquidations following a larger burst earlier in the week, suggesting the tape was fragile heading into the announcement.
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$87,000 to $90,000 in hours
Bitcoin's intraday range today stretched from a low of $87,304 to a high of $90,379, a 3.5% swing that illustrates how quickly sentiment can flip when macro headlines reverse.
The low came as European markets opened, amid elevated tariff fears. The rebound began after Trump posted on Truth Social that he had formed “the framework of a future deal” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte regarding Greenland and the Arctic region, and that he would not impose the tariffs scheduled for Feb. 1.
The bounce timing was clean. Within an hour of the post, Bitcoin had reclaimed $90,000, and short positions began getting liquidated. The move wasn't isolated to crypto, equity futures rallied, Treasury yields stabilized, and gold and silver reversed their safe-haven bid.
The past few days read less like a Bitcoin-only story and more like Bitcoin trading as a high-beta risk asset during a macro shock. Tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty hit equities, currencies, and rates, and Bitcoin followed.
Derivatives positioning amplified the downside when technical levels broke, creating a feedback loop between spot price moves and forced liquidations.
The sharp bounce after the “no tariffs” post fits the same pattern in reverse. The macro headline removed tail risk, risk assets snapped back, and Bitcoin led the rebound.
That dynamic confirms what institutional observers have noted for months: Bitcoin increasingly behaves like a levered play on risk sentiment, particularly during periods when macro uncertainty dominates.
The scale of liquidations stresses the extent of leverage embedded in the system. Over $1 billion in total liquidations on Jan. 21 alone, split between longs caught in the morning selloff and shorts forced to cover during the afternoon rally, suggests traders were positioned for continuation in both directions and got whipsawed when the narrative flipped.
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Risk-off unwind
Gold's drop from $4,850 to $4,777 per ounce and silver's fall from $93 to $90.60 per ounce marked a clear rotation out of safe-haven assets.
During the initial tariff scare, both metals had rallied as investors hedged geopolitical risk and potential dollar weakness. When Trump announced the tariffs were on hold, that bid evaporated.
The speed of the reversal highlights how sensitive precious metals markets are to geopolitical headlines, but also how quickly sentiment can shift when tail risks get removed.
The divergence between Bitcoin's rebound and gold's selloff reinforces the narrative that Bitcoin trades more like a risk asset than a digital safe haven during macro shocks.
When uncertainty spiked, Bitcoin sold off alongside equities. When the uncertainty was resolved, Bitcoin rallied with equities while gold sold off. That correlation structure matters for portfolio construction and for understanding how Bitcoin fits into broader macro flows.
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What comes next
The resolution of the Feb. 1 tariff threat removes one near-term overhang, but the underlying Greenland negotiations remain unresolved.
Trump's post indicated that discussions are ongoing, suggesting the tariff threat could resurface if those talks stall. That leaves a degree of headline risk, particularly if the administration uses trade policy as leverage in future negotiations.
For Bitcoin, the key takeaway is that macro headlines drive volatility more than crypto-specific fundamentals during periods of geopolitical uncertainty.
The Jan. 21 whipsaw demonstrates how quickly sentiment can reverse. Still, it also shows how much leverage remains embedded in derivatives markets and how willing traders are to position aggressively in both directions despite that risk.
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