The cryptocurrency market experienced a volatile week, influenced by global economic factors like trade war concerns and the pause on the U.S. tariff policy.
While bitcoin saw a slight gain, solana, avalanche, and hedera showed significant price fluctuations, recovering from initial drops. Ethereum, however, suffered a substantial loss, failing to rebound like other top cryptocurrencies.
Tariff Pause Ignites Brief Rally
After a volatile week that saw some global stocks and indices plunge to decade lows, the cryptocurrency market ended on a high note, with bitcoin up 2.1%. During the period, Solana, the number six coin by market capitalization, gained 9.5%, the second-highest among the top 20 coins.
According to market data, solana began the seven-day period trading just under $120. However, the trade war-driven market downturn caused SOL, like other top digital assets, to plunge to under $98 in less than 24 hours. U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise 90-day pause on some of the United States’ reciprocal tariffs sparked a mini-rally that saw SOL erase its April 7 losses.
Solana then registered another steep decline, bottoming just below $110 before rallying to peak at $130.72 on April 12 at approximately 10 a.m. EST. At the time of writing, solana’s weekly gain was lower than avalanche’s (AVAX) 12.8% and higher than hedera’s (HBAR) 6.6%.
The price action of avalanche and hedera mirrored solana’s, with steep drops fueled by the escalating trade war, followed by a mini-rally, presumably sparked by the tariff pause, then another drop. However, starting April 9, when it traded just above $16, AVAX rallied and continued to April 12, peaking at $20.54 at 11 a.m. EST. HBAR rallied from a low of $0.1435 that day to peak at $0.1739. It remained in that range for the next three days.
Meanwhile, ethereum (ETH), which has had a poor year, ended the week as the biggest loser among the top 20 digital assets, with an 8.4% decline.
Data shows ETH fell sharply on “Black Monday,” dropping to $1,431, its lowest in more than two years. However, unlike other top 20 digital assets, ethereum failed to erase the Black Monday losses, and by April 12, the number two crypto asset remained below the $1,800 level where it began the week.
ETH’s lackluster performance continues a poor run that is worrying even some of ethereum’s staunchest supporters. Some observers believe that reduced transaction volumes and lower network activity indicate decreasing user interest and adoption. Others believe lower transaction fees are spooking investors who see this affecting Ethereum’s economic model.
Meanwhile, in lockstep with ETH, Lido’s staked ether (STETH) and toncoin (TON) were the next biggest losers among the top 20 digital assets, with weekly losses of 8.3% and 7.5%, respectively.