Bitcoin slides to around $103,500 amid renewed trade tensions

Bitcoin tumbled to multiweek lows this week, sliding as low as about $103,500 after a weekend and subsequent days of heavy selling tied to renewed U.S.-China trade tensions and a cascading unwind of highly leveraged positions across crypto markets. The move erased a large portion of recent gains, pushed major tokens lower, and left traders focused on whale activity and several technical support levels clustered around $110,000, $107,000 and the 200‑day moving average.

Traders and market analysts said the initial shock followed an escalation in trade rhetoric that arrived while U.S. equity markets were closed, prompting some participants to react in crypto’s always-open trading venues. Forced deleveraging amplified the drop: data trackers initially reported roughly $19 billion in leveraged positions closed, a nominal figure reflecting the size of the contracts involved. On-chain analysis by CryptoQuant and others, however, estimated actual trader losses were materially smaller, with aggregate realized losses in the low billions rather than the $19 billion nominal figure.

Market makers and derivatives venues also drew attention. Observers highlighted a large short position opened...