The VIX index, known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” reached 39, the highest level since October 2020, following China’s imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., according to data from TradingView.
This increase, along with a significant decline in U.S. stock-index futures, led traders to raise their estimates of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts to 116 basis points for the year, up from 100 basis points prior to the news from China, as indicated by CME’s FedWatch tool.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading 0.7% lower at $82,500, after reaching highs above $84,600 earlier in the day. The 30-day implied volatility for Bitcoin, represented by Deribit’s DVOL index, rose to an annualized 54.6%, marking the highest level in two weeks.
VIX index. (TradingView)
