Bitcoin volatility cruising at highest levels all year despite Trump's reserve plans

Since bitcoin’s price volatility hit its highest level all year last Monday, the market jitters have persisted. 

Since BTC's annualized rate hit 59.4% on Monday, it's since then held steady at roughly 58%, according to The Block Data Dashboard . The volatility witnessed during the past week is the highest it's been since last December.

Only unlike last December, when the price of bitcoin was ascending alongside the expectations of what a pro-crypto, Donald Trump presidency would look like come the new year, in recent weeks bitcoin's price has been steadily declining, down over 15% in the past month.

Bitcoin's recent volatility comes both as Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Crypto Reserve and the president held a "crypto summit" with top leaders from the world of digital assets like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi.

The executive order directed a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings including the  roughly 200,000 BTC it owns, worth approximately $17 billion at the time of the signing, according to Bitcoin Treasuries . Trump's Crypto Czar David Sacks said the U.S. won't sell bitcoin held in the reserve, instead treating it like a "digital Fort Knox."

And yet, the price of bitcoin fell, suggesting either the idea of the reserve had already been baked into the price rise that pushed it to an all-time high of over $108,000 in December, or that the plans behind creating the reserve weren't as aggressive as some had hoped. Trump first floated the idea of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve last July.

Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, suggested traders were "disappointed" because the bitcoin reserve will be funded with Bitcoin obtained from criminal or civil asset forfeitures rather than government purchases.

Bitcoin's price decline and uptick in volatility has coincided with a broader sell-off in equities triggered by Trump administration's announcing new tariffs. Meanwhile, gold reaffirmed its status as a traditional safe-haven asset, with commodity's price surging last Tuesday.