Coping with crypto carnage

Cryptocurrency markets crumbed over the weekend after Donald Trump’s tariffs kicked in and sent jitters through the markets.

Crypto, one of the most volatile assets, saw big falls—Bitcoin dropped by more than 10% and Ether by over 30%. Other cryptocurrencies, such as XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL), have also declined significantly.

Bilal Ahmed Mir, Founder & CEO of Carter Capital, spoke to The Pulse, the daily news show on The Crypto Radio, to share his thoughts.

“For many people over this weekend, we've had a very short and sharp correction. Just to zoom out in the grand scheme of things, I think above $95,000 on Bitcoin is a very good place to be.

“Not so long ago, we were trading in the 40s and 50s. I remember that very well, around six months ago. So overall, it’s still very strong. As an asset manager, I'm not massively concerned by this.

Indeed Mir is still bullish on Bitcoin for the medium to long term. “This correction has been pretty rapid and does knock a lot of people out of their positions.”

Many investors will see this dip in the market as a buying opportunity. In January, it dropped to around $91,000 but then quickly recovered back above the symbolic $100,000 mark.

“If you are a long term buy-and-hold investor, you may be happy to buy right now. If you're a short-term trader, you may be looking to get in and out of positions a bit more aggressively. So it really depends on your time frame.”

Toby Young, a Digital Asset and FinTech Strategist based in Dubai, told The Crypto Radio that sentiment has soured a bit towards riskier assets like cryptocurrency.

“We've seen the US dollar rally, which is what people call a flight to liquidity, which is the most liquid assets that traders can get their hands on, which is the US dollar.

And then we've seen crypto sold into as well, and the reason for that is sentiment. Basically, people want to turn their assets into cash because they've no idea what's going to happen next. What we're seeing is a knee-jerk reaction.”

In the last few months Bitcoin has risen more than 50% on the prospect of the US adopting crypto-friendly policies, from $68,000 in early November to an all-time high of $107,000 in December.

“I think the problem is there's not enough liquidity in the crypto markets. When people are selling, or as it may be, the machines are selling for the people at market, it just pushes the prices lower and lower, and in turn, that triggers stop loss orders, which then push the market lower and lower again.”

So Young argues it’s not volatility, it's just a sell off.

“The underlying reasons to buy, sell, trade, hold, or store crypto haven't changed because of the tariffs. It's just purely sentiment and liquidating assets to make sure that you have capital.”