US President Donald Trump confirmed that he and First Lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for COVID-19. Following the news, bitcoin (BTC) dropped and gold rose in the markets.
The President and the First Lady reportedly contracted the virus after Hope Hicks, known as one of the President’s closest advisors, was confirmed to have the virus shortly after they all flew together from Washington DC to Cleveland, Ohio for the first presidential debate on September 29.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately.… https://t.co/CIIB2LDQtr
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Immediately following Trump’s tweet, both bitcoin and the traditional safe-haven asset gold saw increased volatility, although in opposite directions. While gold’s initial reaction was to move higher, bitcoin reacted by going lower. Also, stocks dropped, the US dollar climbed following the news.
As of press time (05:49 UTC) – approximately 1 hour after Trump shared the news on Twitter – bitcoin was down by 3.45% over the past 24 hours, and 1.5% in the hour since the news broke, trading at USD 10,462.
Meanwhile, gold was up by 0.88% during the hour since the news broke, currently trading at USD 1,906 after having broken through the key USD 1,900 level on strong upwards momentum.
With only a few weeks until the presidential election November 3, the news that Trump has contracted the virus could potentially have implications for the election.
Reactions:
@3bbotes1993 Agreed, hugely bullsih
— Dan Held (@danheld)
@ZackG1982 @danheld It’s possible. Even holding at that price will be very good IMO.
— Bryan Botes (@3bbotes1993)
@joemacktrustee @lawmaster its been 15 minutes
— Monopoly Money (@M0n0p0lyM0ney)
Bitmex gets rugged by CFTC and not even 24 hours later, Trump contracts Covid-19.
— Squeeze (@cryptoSqueeze)
@lowstrife The correlation is so dumb though. Oh no, some old government guy in the US has COVID, let’s dump a dece… https://t.co/6QG4D0VwCV
— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda)
Market wondering what Trump quarantine implications are for election. Interesting to see how all of this is priced.
— Joel Kruger (@JoelKruger)
@Excellion It honestly feels like one of those “I need to do something with this news” type reaction. Just silly
— Brandon (@BranBTC)
48 hrs ago https://t.co/Jp7jllO7qg
— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway)
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Learn more: Trump Lost and Bitcoin Won First Presidential Debate – Cryptoverse