1. Easing U.S.-China Trade War Tensions Boost Risk Appetite

A major catalyst behind today’s crypto market rally is renewed optimism over a de-escalation in the U.S.-China tariff standoff.

On April 22, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg that the current tariff structure with China is “unsustainable,” signaling openness to a lowering of tariffs in the near future. Later that day, President Donald Trump echoed this view, stating that tariffs “will come down substantially” from the current 145% level.

Trump also clarified that he does not plan to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, easing market fears about central bank instability.

These developments have contributed to a broader risk-on sentiment, with investors piling into digital assets amid renewed confidence in global trade and macroeconomic stability.

2.Short Squeeze Unwinds Over $540M in Bearish Bets

The rally has also been amplified by a massive short squeeze, according to data from CoinGlass.

In the past 24 hours, $624 million in crypto positions have been liquidated — $545 million of which were shorts, marking the largest single-day short liquidation event of 2025

3. Technical Breakout Confirms Bullish Trend Reversal

From a charting perspective, the crypto market has broken out of a multimonth falling wedge, a bullish pattern suggesting trend reversal.

The TOTAL chart — representing the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies — broke above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) and successfully retested the wedge resistance at $2.6 trillion, with price now targeting the next resistance range between $2.93T and $2.94T, marked by the 100-day and 200-day SMAs.