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The price of bitcoin fell below $90,000 and other cryptocurrencies saw large drops Tuesday, erasing some of the gains digital assets have made since President Donald Trump took office on a pro-crypto agenda.
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, was trading at about $89,000 as the U.S. stock market opened. That’s down from about $106,000 around Trump’s inauguration. It dropped as low as $86,000 during the day and was at $88,199 at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Cryptocurrency is highly volatile, and prices can change rapidly. Even with Tuesday’s drop, bitcoin is still up significantly since Trump won last year’s election. Supporters said the price drops represent a good investment opportunity.
“Buy the dips!!!” Eric Trump, the president’s son, said on the social media platform X. He replaced the letter B with the symbol for bitcoin.
Consumer confidence takes a hit
U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, registering the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable.
The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index sank this month to 98.3 from 105.3 in January. That’s far below the expectations of economists, who projected a reading of 103, according to a survey by FactSet.
The seven-point drop was the biggest month-to-month decline since August of 2021.
In a note to clients after Tuesday’s report, Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote: “Based on all the indicators showing declining consumer and business confidence and sentiment, we are expecting a slowing economy.”
