ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: BTC rocketed higher on Trump endorsing crypto reserve

• Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, dismisses Trump’s Bitcoin reserve – “just words”
• China says its studying countermeasures in response to Trump’s March 4 tariffs
• Coinbase CEO Armstrong supports Bitcoin as the best choice Trump’s US Crypto Reserve
• ECB Supervisory Board Claudia Maria Buch speaking Monday, March 3, 2025
• Australia: Qantas flight forced to return to Sydney after smoke detected in cockpit
• Caixin China Manufacturing PMI (February 2025) 50.8 vs. expected 50.3
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1745 (vs. estimate at 7.2857)
• Australian Q4 2024 Business Inventories +0.1% q/q (expected 0.0%)
• Japan final February Manufacturing PMI 49.0 (prior 47.7)
• Warren Buffett says Trump’s tariffs hurt consumers, “an act of war, to some degree”
• Australian private survey of inflation, February 2025: -0.2% m/m (prior +0.1%)
• Another night, another explosion and fire at a Russian oil facility
• France and the UK have proposed a one-month truce in Ukraine
• Australian Manufacturing PMI February Final 50.4 (prior was 50.2)
• Japanese media says the BoJ could face US pressure to hike rates
• US “economy appears to be gagging” on haphazard economic policymaking in DC
• Trade ideas thread – Monday, 3 March, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas
• A US$195mn buy order was placed & filled on BTC and ETH before Trump’s announcement
• Trump bails out Bitcoin – “to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve”
• Weekly Market Outlook (03-07 March)
• Is PayPal Stock a Buy or Sell?
• China February PMIs: Manufacturing 50.2 (expected 50.0) Services 50.4 (expected 50.3)
• US stocks close higher. Ignore Trump vs Zelenskiy brouhaha
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Growth concerns mount on a crazy day

Trump
posted to his own social media network on Sunday US time that he had
directed his Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto
Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA. Trump followed up
with more, saying that “BTC and ETH, as other valuable
Cryptocurrencies, will be the heart of the Reserve”. Bitcoin
and ETH rocketed higher (I’ve posted a chart of BTC/USD below to
give you the picture). There’s a post above detailing how US$195
million in BTC and ETH was bought by one (insider?) trader just
before the surge. Crypto
has since dripped just a little lower but remains elevated on the
day.

Earlier
in the weekend we had PMIs from China for February, showing
improvement over January. On Monday from China we had the follow-up
Caixin Manufacturing PMI, which hit its highest in three months.

Despite
ongoing tariff impositions and threats, Chinese equities rose today.
They are probably going to remain supported all week with China’s
once-a-year national parliament in session. Chinese authorities will
not want to lose face if the stock markets fall while they are making
policy in parliament.

Across
FX we’ve mainly seen a little USD weakness. EUR moved higher
against the USD on the session here. It was helped by a softer USD and by a meeting of UK and many European leaders in support of Ukraine on Sunday in London.

USD/JPY rose early, touching highs just over 151.00 but that’s reversed with the pair sliding all the way down to below 150.30. USD/JPY is around 150.45 as I post now. I noted early in the session a Japanese media report that the Bank of Japan could face US pressure to hike rates. The Nikkei said, in breif:

• As President Donald Trump’s administration debates the details of planned reciprocal tariffs, Washington has signaled that it could treat currency manipulation as a nontariff barrier that could trigger a counter levy from the U.S.
• If Japan becomes the target of U.S. probes for possible reciprocal tariffs and the White House concludes the yen’s weakness is linked to the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy, the central bank could face pressure from Washington to move faster as it weighs additional interest rate hikes.

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Bitcoin update:

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.