Bitcoin price tops $88.5K as BTC doubles down on stocks decoupling

Bitcoin (BTC) doubled down on its divergence from stocks at the April 21 Wall Street open as US trade war tensions escalated. 

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.

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.

“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.”

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.”

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 the red and extending an April drawdown, the narrative of BTC as a safe haven or inflation hedge is once again gaining traction. Should this dynamic hold, it could provide a fresh tailwind for institutional BTC allocation,” it wrote.

QCP even suggested that recent outflows from the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may soon recover.

“Indeed, we’re already seeing early signs of institutional confidence returning. Spot BTC ETF flows turned positive last week with net inflows of $13.4 million, a stark contrast to the previous week’s $708 million in outflows,” the bulletin noted. 

“In options markets, positioning has turned more balanced. Risk reversals across tenors have flattened out, diverging from the persistent near-dated put skew that has dominated for weeks.”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.