An avalanche shakes the markets. In just 24 hours, they have lost $500 billion in market capitalization, a collapse that drags bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), Ethereum's cryptocurrency, and other assets into a dizzying drop.

Everything points to an explosive cocktail: the trade war driven by the United States and an unexpected turn following the announcement of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to analysts from The Kobeissi Letter financial bulletin.

What started as a glimmer of hope for investors transformed into what analysts from The Kobeissi Letter term 'a colossal trap for retail trading.'

The backdrop couldn't be more tense. As global economic powers clash in trade, cryptocurrencies sink into a sea of uncertainty.

An announcement that lit the fuse

On March 2, Donald Trump burst onto the scene with a statement that seemed promising for the cryptocurrency world.

In the morning hours of that day, he confirmed the creation of a U.S. strategic cryptocurrency reserve, a plan that would initially include assets from local companies like XRP, SOL, and ADA, but would later expand its scope to BTC and ETH, as reported by CriptoNoticias.

The news generated immediate euphoria: that same day, the cryptocurrency market soared from $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion, regaining lost ground in previous weeks.

However, the joy was short-lived. In the last 24 hours, the landscape took a dramatic turn. The markets fell to $2.6 billion, placing them $100 billion below the levels prior to the announcement of the reserve.

Bitcoin and Ethereum down

Bitcoin, for example, is recording a 10% drop in its price, eliminating nearly $250 billion from its capitalization in the last 12 hours.