Bitcoin (BTC) passed $88,000 after the March 25 Wall Street open as risk assets stayed highly sensitive to US trade tariffs.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC price gains anticipate classic April comeback

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD tightly clinging to the daily open.

US stocks opened modestly higher, building on a comeback that provided traders some long-awaited cause for optimism.

A key ingredient in stemming the risk-asset rout were cues from the US government and President Donald Trump over their planned round of trade tariffs set to begin on April 2. 

“Risk assets staged one of their strongest sessions of the year, helped by a temporary easing of fears around the April 2nd tariff deadline,” trading firm QCP Capital summarized in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers. 

“Trump signalled twice on Monday that trading partners might secure exemptions or reductions, offering a reprieve that helped soothe market jitters.”

BTC/USD vs. S&P 500 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

QCP noted that others were coming to believe that the worst of the equities setback had come and gone, including JPMorgan.

“Q2, and April in particular, has historically been one of the best periods for risk assets, second only to the festive December rally,” it added. 

“The S&P 500 has delivered an average annualised return of 19.6% in Q2, while Bitcoin has also recorded its second-best median performance during this stretch – again, trailing only Q4.”

BTC/USD monthly returns (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

As Cointelegraph reported, expectations for April among Bitcoin market participants are also high, given historical tendencies for strong price performance.

Statistics from monitoring resource CoinGlass put average returns for BTC/USD for both March and April at just under 13% over the past eleven years.

Bitcoin stares down major seller liquidity

Analyzing short-timeframe BTC price action, traders increasingly focused on the $90,000 mark on the day.

Related: Bitcoin flips ‘macro bullish’ amid first Hash Ribbon buy signal in 8 months

“$BTC Is still trading at a solid spot premium during this bounce,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades acknowledged in one of his latest X posts. 

“If it can maintain that while slowly making its way back into the previous range ($90K+), I’d be confident we’re due for a move back to new highs. For now it still remains a big resistance and price has been correlated to equities.”

BTC/USD 1-day chart with perps basis. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Meanwhile, CoinGlass showed ongoing sell-side liquidity just below $90,000 — previously attributed to market manipulation by a high-volume trader dubbed “Spoofy the Whale.”

Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, who coined the phrase, said that this entity alone would keep price trapped at around $87,500 going forward.

BTC liquidation heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

This week, Alan said that another important level to flip to support is the yearly open at just above $93,000. Failure to do so, he warned, could still trigger a return to multimonth lows.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.