XRP Leads Market Gains, Bitcoin Nears $115K as Trump Tariffs Sour Bullish Crypto Mood

Crypto started the week steady with bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) stabilizing after volatile selloffs on Friday and Saturday driven by the worst spot ETF outflows in months. Bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $1 billion in outflows across Thursday and Friday, causing the asset to drop to around $114,000 before a modest recovery. Ether followed with $152 million in outflows on Friday, snapping a nearly month-long streak of daily inflows and putting pressure on its rally. This came as U.S. President Donald Trump levying fresh tariffs across Asia and Europe dampened the mood in the global market, with risky bets suffering. “The dip was driven by concerns over Trump’s tariff stance and the Fed’s signal that it’s not keen to cut rates soon. But opportunistic buyers are already stepping in before U.S. markets open, indicating the fear may be overdone,” said Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, in a Monday note to CoinDesk. That opportunistic pattern is apparent in some charts. Bitcoin is holding near $114,500 in early Asia trading, while ether was sitting above $3,550 — both still within short-term support zones. Retail favorites XRP (XRP) and dogecoin (DOGE) rose as much as 5% to lead market gains on Monday, with Cardano’s ADA (ADA), BNB (BNB) and Solana’s SOL (SOL) rising over 3%. Institutional depth also appears to be cushioning volatility, some opine. “The rising presence of professional desks has brought deeper secondary liquidity,” said Augustine Fan, Head of Insights at SignalPlus. “This would’ve been a far messier unwind in the pre-ETF era. Q4 will be an important quarter with the Fed fully back in play and the tariff-inflation spillover to start showing in the real economy, so we believe it's an opportune time to dial down risk exposure in expectation of a busy September and year-end,” Fan added. Still, ETF buyers remain absent for now, and that’s keeping broader sentiment tentative. Bitcoin still sat below the critical $118,000 breakout zone, and ether needs to jump above $3,500 to avoid triggering further systematic selling. Outside crypto, the macro setup is providing a soft floor. U.S. equity futures are green, up 0.4%, after Friday’s weak jobs report lifted expectations for a Fed pivot.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index erased early losses, Hong Kong tech stocks broke a 7-day losing streak, and Treasury yields inched up, with 10-year paper at 4.24%. Oil drifted lower after OPEC plus wrapped up a wave of production hikes, while the dollar weakened slightly. Read more: Higher Bitcoin ETF Options Limits May Cut Volatility, but Boost Spot Demand: NYDIG