The United States imposed new taxes for imports from China, which leads to China’s currency (the CHN Yuan) losing over 7% of its value over the past 24 hours.
The consequences, however, can be devastating for U.S. exporters to China because imported products will become more expensive for Chinese customers. U.S. equity markets also suffer from the trade war, as the tariffs and the conflict between China and the U.S. could drive a global market recession.
Financial experts alarmed about the impact of the new fees on the global CFD markets. Ted Bauman, Senior Research Analyst at Bryan Hill Publishing, stated that “a soft global market environment with a strong dollar could impact other currencies and lead to raised pressure. The South African Rand lost almost 12% of its price against the USD in less than a week".
Cryptocurrencies, however, became a safety net for investors worldwide. All top-50 cryptocurrencies are in the green, with minor exceptions. Bitcoin, the global crypto leader, is up with 9,35% as of press time, trading at $11,715.29. Looking at the 7-day graph, the upward momentum is backed by an increase of daily trading volumes, which means more fiat cash is turning into crypto. Tether, dubbed as the stablecoin of choice when it comes to entering the crypto market, also received a rise in trading volumes.
The second in line based on market capitalization, Ethereum, is up 5,19% and trades at $230.64. Ethereum closely follows Bitcoin’s trend, with a sharp increase in trading volumes right after the announcement of the new fees from the U.S. government.
Ripple, exchanging at $0.322813 as of press time, marked a 2,64% price increase, with 24h trading volumes exceeding $1 billion.
On a weekly basis, Bitcoin is up with 23 percent, Ethereum made a 9-percent price increase, and Ripple experienced a 3-percent upwards movement.