Bitcoin Edges Toward $96K Amid Market Calm Despite Ongoing Tariff Concerns

The cryptocurrency market saw another relatively quiet session on Tuesday, maintaining momentum even as concerns over the Trump administration’s tariff policies continue to cast a shadow over broader economic sentiment.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 1% over the past 24 hours, trading just under $95,400 and edging closer to the $96,000 mark, a level it has not reached since the second half of February. The CoinDesk 20 index, which tracks the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap excluding stablecoins, exchange tokens, and memecoins, posted a 1.1% gain. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) stood out with a notable 6.3% jump, outperforming the rest of the index.

In the equities space, crypto-linked stocks posted modest gains. Coinbase (COIN) advanced by 0.9%, while MicroStrategy (MSTR) climbed 3.3%. Meanwhile, Janover (JNVR) continued to rally, adding another 16% on the back of its strategy to accumulate Solana (SOL).

Broader equity markets also extended their rebound from the tariff-related turbulence that rattled investors in early April. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each closed the day up by 0.55%.

Despite the relative calm in markets, some analysts argue that investors are ignoring troubling economic indicators. A Conference Board survey revealed that consumer confidence has dropped to its lowest point since May 2020. The consumer outlook is now at its weakest since 2011. Additionally, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that job vacancies declined to 7.19 million in March, falling short of expectations, which were set at 7.5 million.

On the trade front, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that a new trade deal had been agreed with an unspecified country, though he noted that ratification by that nation’s leadership was still pending.

Some voices within the financial sector continue to warn that the market rally may be overlooking serious risks. Jeff Park, head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise, criticized the market’s apparent complacency in a post on X. “Hard to fathom how blind the market really is,” Park wrote.

Park also addressed growing speculation that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates in the near term to offset economic damage from the tariff regime. “A Fed cut means nothing if U.S. creditworthiness is permanently impaired by the global community as resulted by dollar weaponization,” he said. “That's the mispricing we are talking about here. The myopic focus on whether [we] are getting a fed cut in May/June is completely irrelevant if the notion of the risk-free as we know it is fundamentally challenged forever, which means cost of capital globally is going higher.”

By fLEXI tEAM