Bitcoin shakes off U.S. session losses as Trump says U.S. trade deficit cut by 78%

• Bitcoin swung between about $65,900 and $67,000 on Thursday as traders reacted to former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that tariffs have slashed the U.S. trade deficit by 78 percent.
• Investors are focused less on the accuracy of Trump’s trade figures and more on how renewed tariff talk could mean higher-for-longer interest rates, a stronger dollar and pressure on risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
• Bitcoin has recently been trading as a macro proxy, moving with shifts in liquidity and rate expectations, and could struggle to hold rallies if tariff concerns tighten financial conditions rather than fade into political noise.

Bitcoin trading remained volatile on Thursday, rising to around $67,000 after briefly dipping near $65,900, as traders weighed a new message from U.S. President Donald Trump claiming the nation’s trade deficit has been cut by 78% thanks to tariffs and could turn positive later this year.

"The United States trade deficit has been reduced by 78% because of the tariffs being charged to other companies and countries," Trump said in a Truth Social post late Wednesday. "Ot will go into positive territory during this year, for the first time in many decades."

The claim matters for crypto less because of the math in any single post and more because it pulls the market back to a familiar pressure point.

Tariffs can act like a tax on imports, which can lift prices in the real economy and complicate the path for interest rates. When markets start pricing “rates higher for longer,” the dollar tends to firm and risk assets tend to lose oxygen.

Bitcoin has spent the past two weeks trading like a macro proxy again, reacting to shifts in liquidity and rate expectations rather than any crypto specific catalyst.

There is also a real data backdrop that makes trade a live topic. In early January, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply to about $29.4 billion, the lowest since 2009, with analysts pointing to a drop in imports, a jump in exports and the knock on effects of tariff threats.

But economists also noted that a big part of the swing came from non monetary gold flows, which can make month to month numbers look cleaner than the underlying trend.

If the tariffs story hardens into a stronger dollar and tighter financial conditions, rallies can struggle to stick. If it fades into political noise, crypto goes back to watching flows, leverage and whether buyers can reclaim lost levels.

• BTC trades near $67,000 and ETH near $1,970, with volatility fading after Feb. 5’s selloff.
• Derivatives show stabilization, with open interest at $15.38 billion and funding positive
• Elevated short-term implied volatility signals caution.
• $218 million in liquidations and 97 of top 100 tokens in the red underscore fragile sentiment.

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