Is Donald Trump Insulating Bitcoin’s Price From The Tech Stock Slide?

Since the markets opened yesterday, the S&P500 has lost 1.8%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 has lost 3.0% and tech giant Nvidia (NVDA) has lost 5.3%.

Normally, bitcoin follows stocks (especially tech stocks) in their daily movements, but this time, as of the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is up 0.5%. What’s going on?

BTC looks strong despite falling stock prices on Tuesday (TradingView)

Sure, this is a short timeframe, but in a week where we saw selling pressure on Mt. Gox and meager spot ether ETF inflows, it’s surprising how well bitcoin has held up today, especially considering how it normally behaves.

Market commentators have long stated that Bitcoin is just another tech stock, given its strong correlation to them. Bitcoin optimists, myself included, have been preaching about the impending decoupling when Bitcoin eliminates all asset correlations and becomes an uncorrelated macro asset that should be in every balanced portfolio. But it didn’t always look that way.

Narrative drives daily market movements. So what kind of narrative does Bitcoin have that isn’t currently out there?

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is not speaking at the biggest Stock Market Conference this week; mainstream investors are not waiting to see what the former US President has to say about Nvidia; there are no rumors of the Nasdaq-100 strategic reserve being announced.

But Trump is set to speak at the Bitcoin Conference this week; Bitcoin supporters are eagerly awaiting what the former US President will say in his speech there on Saturday; there are rumors that he will announce a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

In the absence of any other compelling narrative, Trump is seemingly isolating bitcoin from the price action of tech stocks. Trump may be making a bid for the US presidency, and perhaps he deserves a new title: bitcoin’s chief discriminator.

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, Trump’s speech is shaping up to be the potential “sell the event” that some market analysts predict. Trump could say any number of things or make any claims about bitcoin during his speech; who knows what. But what is certain is that his words will have far-reaching effects on the cryptocurrency market.

Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.