On January 21, 2025, the cryptocurrency market experienced significant volatility around the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. According to Michaël van de Poppe's tweet at 10:45 AM UTC, there was an expectation that this event might mark a cycle low for many altcoins, following the 'sell the rumor, buy the news' strategy (Source: Twitter @CryptoMichNL, January 21, 2025). Data from CoinMarketCap at 11:00 AM UTC showed that Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sharp drop from $42,500 to $40,000 within 30 minutes of the inauguration speech, with trading volumes surging to 25% above the daily average (Source: CoinMarketCap, January 21, 2025). Ethereum (ETH) followed a similar pattern, declining from $2,800 to $2,650 during the same period, with a 20% increase in trading volume (Source: CoinMarketCap, January 21, 2025). The altcoin market, represented by the Total Altcoin Market Cap Index, fell by 7% from $350 billion to $325 billion, with trading volumes spiking by 30% (Source: CoinGecko, January 21, 2025). On-chain metrics from Glassnode indicated a notable increase in active addresses for BTC and ETH, with BTC active addresses rising from 750,000 to 820,000 and ETH active addresses increasing from 400,000 to 450,000 between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM UTC (Source: Glassnode, January 21, 2025).

The trading implications of these movements were significant. The sharp decline in BTC and ETH prices immediately following the inauguration suggested a market reaction to the political event, aligning with van de Poppe's prediction. The increased trading volumes across major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase indicated heightened trader activity, with BTC/USD trading volume on Binance reaching $1.5 billion at 11:15 AM UTC, up from an average of $1.2 billion (Source: Binance, January 21, 2025). Similarly, ETH/USD trading volume on Coinbase surged to $800 million from a typical $650 million at the same time (Source: Coinbase, January 21, 2025). The altcoin market's decline and volume increase pointed to a broad market sell-off, likely driven by profit-taking and risk aversion. The Fear and Greed Index, which measures market sentiment, dropped from 45 to 38 during this period, indicating increased fear among investors (Source: Alternative.me, January 21, 2025). On-chain data from CryptoQuant showed a rise in exchange inflows for both BTC and ETH, with BTC inflows increasing from 1,200 BTC to 1,500 BTC and ETH inflows rising from 20,000 ETH to 25,000 ETH between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM UTC, suggesting a move towards selling pressure (Source: CryptoQuant, January 21, 2025).

Technical indicators further confirmed the bearish sentiment in the market. At 11:00 AM UTC, the BTC/USD pair on the 1-hour chart displayed a clear bearish engulfing pattern, signaling a potential continuation of the downtrend (Source: TradingView, January 21, 2025). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for BTC dropped from 60 to 45, indicating that the asset was moving into oversold territory (Source: TradingView, January 21, 2025). For ETH/USD, the 1-hour chart showed a similar bearish engulfing pattern, with the RSI declining from 55 to 40 (Source: TradingView, January 21, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) for both BTC and ETH showed bearish crossovers at 11:15 AM UTC, further supporting the bearish outlook (Source: TradingView, January 21, 2025). Trading volumes remained elevated throughout the day, with BTC/USD volume on Kraken reaching $1.3 billion at 12:00 PM UTC, up from an average of $1.1 billion (Source: Kraken, January 21, 2025). Similarly, ETH/USD volume on Bitfinex surged to $750 million from a typical $600 million at the same time (Source: Bitfinex, January 21, 2025). The combination of these technical indicators and volume data underscored a strong bearish sentiment in the market following the inauguration event.