Trump's Tariff Liberation Day Is Here, and Investors Are Making Cautious Moves

After some inflows over the past week, US Bitcoin

The first two days of April saw institutional investors pulling out a total of $222 million from US Bitcoin and US Ethereum ETFs, according to Farside data.

After some inflows over the past week, US Bitcoin ETF flows have turned net negative once again, with Fidelity’s FBTC leading the outflows. Bitwise (BITB), Ark Invest (ARKB), and WisdomTree (BTCW) led $60.6 million outflows on March 31, while BlackRock’s IBIT was the only fund to record positive inflows.

However, on April 1, the outflows surged even further to $158 million, with FBTC and ARKB leading the charge. On the other hand, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has been trying to hold the line with zero of just minor inflows.

Similarly, Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $3.6 million, indicating cautious sentiment among institutional investors.

The Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $157.8M outflow yesterday.

The Spot Ethereum ETFs saw $3.6M outflow.

INSTITUTIONS ARE REDUCING RISK AWARE OF TODAY’S TARIFF ANNOUNCEMENT! pic.twitter.com/bLW5xPEj6U

— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) April 2, 2025

The Trump Liberation Day announcement on April 2 saw traders taking a cautious “wait-and-see” approach. US President Donald Trump has already hinted at his intentions to unveil sweeping new tariffs.

As the global tariff war kicks in, market participants are bracing for the volatility ahead. For instance, traders are quite unsure of their broader impact on the economy and crypto markets.

"Markets crawl higher if headlines remain neutral to benign this week, then freeze as we await April 2nd, which is reciprocal tariffs day announcement or, as Trump called it, Liberation Day."

"April 2nd is similar to election night. It is the biggest event of the week in terms of market impact and will be the subject of much discussion in the days and weeks ahead."

Despite Bitcoin's struggle to attract institutional safe-haven flows, its long-term outlook remains strong. This is evident as Bitcoin's supply on exchanges has fallen to 7.53%, the lowest level since February 2018, signaling increased holding sentiment among investors.

Gold Becomes the Ultimate Winner

While Bitcoin is seeing strong selling pressure, Gold price has continued to hit new highs amid the ongoing macro uncertainty.

🔥 Bitcoin = Digital Risk, NOT Digital Gold

Bitcoin is crashing harder than stocks, yet people still call it "digital gold." But if it were truly digital gold, wouldn't it act more like gold? Instead, Bitcoin behaves like a high-risk asset—just like penny stocks. So why would ...

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) April 2, 2025

A Bank of America survey revealed that 58% of fund managers prefer gold as a safe-haven asset amid trade war concerns, while just 3% expressed support for Bitcoin.