{"id":520555,"date":"2026-02-22T12:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=520555"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:50:28","slug":"bitcoin-enters-a-150-day-danger-zone-as-trump-pivots-to-a-1974-trade-law-the-supreme-court-hasnt-touched-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/bitcoin-enters-a-150-day-danger-zone-as-trump-pivots-to-a-1974-trade-law-the-supreme-court-hasnt-touched-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin flash crashes below $65,000 in delayed reaction to more Trump tariff hikes during low weekend liquidity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin traded sideways before drop as Trump cited Trade Act for 15% tariffs after Supreme Court ruling, and the market starts watching the 150-day clock<\/h2>\n

It was one of those rare weekend sessions where the chart barely moves… yet it still feels like something was about to snap.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin hovered around $68,000 all weekend, chopping inside a tight band, while Washington handed markets a story that is both legal and macro at once.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court just narrowed<\/a> the emergency-powers tariff pathway Trump relied on, and the White House is now pointing to a different statute to keep a 15% duty alive, at least for a limited window.<\/p>\n

Sideways trading can be a form of suspense. The headline sets the stage, and the second-order effects keep arguing with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Asset<\/th>\nWeekend price<\/th>\nChange vs. prior close<\/th>\nIntraday high<\/th>\nIntraday low<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Bitcoin (BTC)<\/td>\n$68,009<\/td>\n-$198<\/td>\n$68,637<\/td>\n$67,821<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\"Bitcoin
Bitcoin sideways price action and calm weekend movements<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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\n Related Reading<\/span>\n

Bitcoin faces a $175B liquidity shock as tariff refunds move to trade court<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/i>\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

However, as soon as European markets opened this week, Bitcoin fell almost 6% toward $64,000 within 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

The tariff tax impact on Bitcoin<\/h2>\n

Traders tend to trade on how the Supreme Court ruling affects growth, inflation, interest rates, and liquidity, the variables that have repeatedly mattered most for crypto pricing in the post-2020 cycle.<\/p>\n

The legal fight has shaped how durable the policy shock looks, and durability forces businesses and investors to reprice the future.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled<\/a> 6\u20133 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 does not authorize the president to impose broad tariffs. In plain terms, the Court tightened the lane, and tariffs of this scale now point back toward clearer permission from Congress.<\/p>\n

Then came the pivot. Within a day, Trump cited<\/a> Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a narrower authority that can allow a tariff of up to 15% for up to 150 days under certain balance-of-payments conditions.<\/p>\n

The dispute sits inside statutes and process, and it opens a fresh round of questions about whether Section 122\u2019s conditions are met and how far the authority can be stretched beyond its historical use.<\/p>\n

Tariffs are a tax at the border. They can lift import prices quickly, pressure margins, and rearrange supply chains.<\/p>\n

Those forces can push inflation in one direction and growth in another, and when those signals conflict, markets often hesitate before they commit.<\/p>\n

That hesitation is visible in Bitcoin right now. If tariffs add inflation pressure and keep real yields elevated, financial conditions tighten and high-volatility assets can trade heavy.<\/p>\n

If tariffs translate into a growth scare and the market starts pricing easier policy later, liquidity expectations can turn supportive and Bitcoin can find oxygen. With both paths plausible at the same time, the tape often turns into chop, a market arguing with itself in real time.<\/p>\n

There is also a confidence layer. Policy that looks reversible can trade like noise, and policy that looks durable can force a full re-forecast.<\/p>\n

This episode carries both features at once, tariffs that exist today, and a legal structure that keeps the next step in question.<\/p>\n\n

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\n Related Reading<\/span>\n

Bitcoin ignored Trump\u2019s latest 25% tariff threat, but the $19B liquidation ghost from October is quietly resetting in the shadows<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/i>\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

From courtroom ruling to balance-sheet reality<\/h2>\n

The Supreme Court decision also leaves a practical question sitting on the table, what happens to tariff funds already collected under the now-limited framework?<\/p>\n

The ruling did not address what will happen to the more than $133 billion already collected, funds that importers are seeking to recover and businesses are demanding clarity on.<\/p>\n

This is where policy becomes operational. Someone imported inventory, paid the tariff, set prices, and built a plan around that cost.<\/p>\n

Refunds that arrive late, arrive in pieces, or arrive through litigation keep uncertainty alive outside the courtroom, and that uncertainty can show up in payrolls, purchasing decisions, and capital spending.<\/p>\n

Capital spending is one of the transmission channels markets care about when they are trying to predict what the Fed does next.<\/p>\n

The macro path runs through the usual wiring, inflation and growth feed into Fed expectations, Fed expectations feed into yields and the dollar, and yields and the dollar feed into global liquidity conditions.<\/p>\n\n

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\n Related Reading<\/span>\n

The only thing worse than buying Bitcoin so far this year is selling at this time of the week<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/i>\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

Why Bitcoin looks calm, and why that calm feels tense<\/h2>\n

Bitcoin\u2019s weekend range-bound action fit a market trying to map which macro path dominates.<\/p>\n

A 15% levy can quickly push prices down. Any slowdown in demand can take longer to show up in hard data, and that lag can keep rate expectations stuck between stories. Rate expectations have been one of the most reliable short-term drivers of crypto sentiment when macro uncertainty rises.<\/p>\n

The sequence also matters.<\/p>\n