The cryptocurrency market experienced a turbulent day of trading on Monday, triggered by President Donald Trump‘s inauguration.
High expectations for a crypto-friendly presidency were dashed when Trump’s inaugural address did not include any mention of digital currencies. As a result, tokens suffered sharp price drops and substantial liquidations across the market.
The market had rallied significantly in the days leading up to the inauguration. But it fell almost immediately when it was clear that Trump’s speech — his second inaugural address — would not include the topic.
Bitcoin BTC/USD, which had been riding a wave of optimism ahead of the inauguration, dropped from $106,000 to $101,000 during Trump's speech before stabilizing around $103,000.
Among altcoins, Solana SOL/USD — central to the weekend's Trump-affiliated meme coin frenzy — fell nearly 10% from its lifetime high.
The newly launched TRUMP TRUMP/USD meme coin, released on Friday, saw an immediate plunge. It fell 30% from $50 during Trump's address.
Though it partially recovered, it remained down over 44% at last check Monday, trading at around $39.88.
A meme coin inspired by First Lady Melania Trump MELANIA/USD, which launched a day after TRUMP, fared worse. It plummeted 46% before rebounding slightly.
According to data from CoinGlass, the volatility wiped out over $700 million in leveraged crypto positions on Monday alone. Nearly $500 million-worth of those liquidations came from traders betting on price increases.
Including the selloff that began overnight before the inauguration, the total liquidation across digital assets surpassed $1.2 billion in 24 hours—the largest leverage flush this year.
The wild swings of the meme coins has also attracted criticism from key political figures.
Nic Carter, a founding partner of a crypto investment firm, called the meme coin launch "preposterous," while Congresswoman Maxine Waters criticized it for "tainting the crypto industry" and exposing the need for proper regulation.
This has led to concern for advocates within the industry that the volatile meme coins may hurt the public perception of legitimate digital assets and push regulators to act aggressively against digital assets.
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