The de-escalation of tensions and growing odds of a trade deal between the US and China are positive price catalysts for cryptocurrencies.
United States President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he is meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Seoul, Korea, slated to begin on October 31.
“We’re going to meet in a couple of weeks. We’re going to meet in South Korea, with president Xi and other people, too,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo of Fox News, following a de-escalation of trade tensions between China and the US. Trump said on Sunday:
“[Xi Jinping] is a very strong leader, a very amazing man. You can look at what he’s done, where he is in his life. It is an amazing story. It’s a story for a great movie. I think we’re gonna be fine with China, but we have to have a fair deal. It’s going to be fair.”
Trump previously said there was “no reason” to meet Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in South Korea, followed by an announcement of additional trade tariffs on China, which sent crypto markets into a downward spiral, wiping away 99% of value on some altcoins.
The social media posts from Trump ignited a cascade of nearly $20 billion in liquidations in the crypto derivatives market — the worst crypto liquidation event in history — which was exacerbated by a perfect storm of leverage, thin liquidity, and excessive risk.
Related: Trump confirms US is in a trade war with China
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rose by about 2% on Sunday, following Trump’s comments, and BTC wasn’t alone in seeing modest gains.
Crypto rallied across the board, with Ether (ETH) and BNB (BNB) each recording a gain of about 3.5%, with Solana’s SOL (SOL) rising by nearly 4%, at the time of this writing, according to data from TradingView.
Market sentiment hit a six-month low in the wake of the historic crypto market crash and investor fears of a protracted trade war between the US and China.
The Crypto Fear and Greed indicator dropped to a low of 22 on Friday, signaling “Extreme Fear” and investor caution regarding the crypto market.
However, analysts at the Kobeissi Letter forecast a short-lived market downturn due to technical factors and said that the long-term bull trend is still intact.
