Trump-Musk spat sinks each man’s symbolic meme coin

It must have been love, but it’s over now, and the feud of all feuds between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is having financial ramifications. In addition to the Trump trades being hit, the crypto market is feeling the bad vibes, too.

As for the meme coins most connected to the two men, both are feeling the breakup pain. Trump’s namesake $TRUMP (the one with the famed dinner) is down 8% in the last 24 hours. It’s also down 87% since its all-time high on Inauguration Day.

As for Musk-endorsed dogecoin — a meme coin so beloved by the Tesla CEO it inspired the name of the DOGE agency — it’s down 6% as of 9:50 a.m. and down 75% since its all-time high on May 8, 2021.

“Seeing wild market swings because Elon Musk and Donald Trump are throwing punches at each other on X is both annoying and revealing. Annoying, because we’re still letting loud personalities move the market; revealing, because it shows the crypto ecosystem is still fragile and in desperate need of liquidity,” Kevin Rusher, founder of Real World Asset, said.

As for bitcoin, it’s down about 1.7% this morning. The asset’s moves have been tepid in the past week, oscillating in the low to mid-$100,000 range.

As the crypto market is the only market that trades 24/7, an escalating feud over the weekend could have a dramatic effect on it.

Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, said that with the Trump-Musk saga and uncertainty about Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” the crypto market may bear the brunt if things don’t cool off. 

“Right now, we're seeing bitcoin testing the $100,000 support level, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the price break down below this level in the short term. However, this pullback will likely be short-lived. At the moment, the long/short ratio for bitcoin is 47/53 in favor of the shorts, which usually indicates that a reversal is imminent,” he said.

Puckrin said a key level he’s watching is $102,000: if bitcoin closes above this today, it would signal that the sell-off has run out of steam.

“However, if the reversal is rejected at $106,000, further weakness could be on the horizon. Either way, investors must prepare for more volatility yet again, which has been the one predictable constant in this very unpredictable cycle,” he added.

As of this morning, it doesn’t seem like they will. Despite several bigwigs, including fellow billionaire Bill Ackman, trying to broker a peace deal between the two men, Trump doesn’t seem interested. This morning, the president told several outlets he was not receptive to a call with Musk.

There is one big winner in all of this. Yesterday, a Kill Big Beautiful Bill meme coin was launched on Pump.fun. As of writing, it’s up a whopping 360%.