On Saturday February 1 2025 the US announced tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. With stock markets closed, crypto took the first hit: Ethereum slid through Sunday and on February 3 fell as low as $2,080 from above $2,860 in a cascade of leveraged liquidations. The same day, tariffs on Mexico and Canada were paused for 30 days, and ETH recovered nearly all of it by the close.
This is a brutal session because the day's range was 29% and it ended almost exactly where it began: the collapse and the recovery each happened faster than a stop could be moved, and both were driven by headlines rather than anything visible on the chart.
Same engine, same hidden right-hand side — a different day's problem.