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Whether you like him or not, Donald Trump is, without a doubt, one of the most influential and unpredictable presidents when it comes to the crypto market. His national and international moves, official statements, and social media posts move billions in the crypto space, often causing unexpected swings and turbulence.

And while Trump definitely played a major role in driving government and institutional crypto adoption, helping Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major altcoins make their way onto publicly traded companies` balance sheets, the U.S. president did way more short-term damage to BTC than good, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.

According to an analysis by the TechGaged research team, Bitcoin lost more than $240 billion in short-term swings following Donald Trump`s political moves and statements since 2019, or 73% more than it gained.

Bitcoin Lost $140B in 5 Days After Trump’s Tariffs, 10× More Than CARES Act Gains

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), often called Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, perfectly shows how fear builds in traditional markets during Trump’s presidency. Last month, the index soared to 30.5 in pre-market trading, high above its long-term average of 19.5 and the second-highest figure in four years, showing how unpredictable the Trump era is.

That same volatility has spilled over into the crypto market many times, with Bitcoin reacting sharply to Trump’s political moves and statements.

Trump`s journey to becoming one of the most impactful figures in the market is especially interesting. From his anti-Bitcoin tweets in 2019, CARES Act stimulus a year later, which triggered a market rally, to the rise of political meme tokens, where politics itself became a tradable narrative, followed by tariff announcements and Iran strikes.

His latest move, the Iran ceasefire announcement, caused Bitcoin’s market cap to surge by $70 billion in a single day.

What started as tweet-driven reactions has grown into a full-scale market impact, where policy, geopolitics, and even his personal crypto ventures move hundreds of billions in Bitcoin; however, many times into the red.

TechGaged analyzed Donald Trump`s six major crypto-affecting moves since 2019, which swung over $380 billion in Bitcoin in the short-term, or within three to five days following each event, and the findings are quite surprising.

Half of these events pushed Bitcoin deep into the red, erasing $241.8 billion in total. The tariff announcement in the first week of April 2025 caused the worst damage, erasing around $140 billion off Bitcoin`s market cap in just five days. In comparison, that is ten times more than Bitcoin gains fueled by the CARES Act stimulus in March 2020.

Trump`s anti-Bitcoin tweets, posted in July 2019, were the second-worst Trump move affecting Bitcoin, causing its market cap to dip by $51.8 billion. What’s especially shocking is that this is $1.5 billion more than the loss triggered by Iran’s strike escalation on February 28, 2026. That day, Bitcoin`s market cap dipped by $50 billion, ranking as the third-worst Trump-caused event affecting Bitcoin since 2019.

Trump’s Moves Cost Bitcoin $100B More in Losses Than Gains

While the other three of Trump’s regulatory and investment moves helped Bitcoin achieve considerable gains, boosting its market cap by a combined $139 billion in the short term, these breakthroughs are still roughly $100 billion short of the total losses triggered by the other three events.

What’s even more interesting is that the launch of the Trump meme coin alone fueled BTC growth three to eight times higher than his two other regulatory moves on the same list. It triggered a rally in smaller coins and increased market speculation, while also helping Bitcoin’s market value surge by $100 billion in just three days.

In comparison, the CARES Act stimulus in March 2020 pushed Bitcoin’s market value up by $11.5 billion, while post-election regulatory tailwinds in November 2024 added $27.5 billion.

While these six events are just the largest among many of Trump`s unpredictable, sometimes controversial moves, they clearly show the market reacts more aggressively to Trump-caused risk than to Trump-driven market optimism.