Crypto Rollercoaster: ’TACO Trade’ Fuels Volatile Rallies Amid Market Indecision

Markets can't make up their minds—again. The 'TACO trade' is back, sparking unstable rallies as traders flip between greed and fear. Here's why crypto's latest pump feels more like a shaky Jenga tower than a bull run.

Mixed signals, shaky foundations

Every altcoin moonboy's favorite volatility snack—the TACO trade—is creating artificial momentum. Liquidity? Thin as a DeFi protocol's security promises. Retail FOMO? Drying up faster than a shitcoin dev's GitHub commits.

The cynical take

Watch the 'smart money' front-run these pumps—again. Just don't be the bagholder left chanting 'have fun staying poor' at your own portfolio. (Bonus jab: If you think this time's different, we've got a 'high-yield' CeFi platform to sell you.)

Trump tariffs add confusion as crypto and yields move separately

Despite the noise from tariffs, bond markets remained calm. The 10-year Treasury yield stayed at 4.35%, the 30-year edged up slightly to 4.882%, and the 2-year slipped marginally to 3.853%. Those minor movements showed that fixed income investors aren’t yet panicking over the trade headlines.

But over in Europe, equities painted a different picture. The Stoxx 600 gained 0.6% in the mid-morning session. In the UK, the FTSE 100 hit a fresh intraday record at 8,965.7, rising 1.1%. That rally came even as trade worries loomed.

Analysts pointed to the so-called “TACO trade,” which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” as a reason why investors still held on to optimism.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Thursday morning that traders aren’t treating the tariffs as permanent. “Hopes are riding high that the effects on global growth won’t be as onerous as feared,” she said in a note.

She also pointed out that the structure of the FTSE 100 helped boost sentiment.

“The FTSE 100 is stuffed full of multinationals which are sensitive to the outlook for the world economy and with the so-called ‘TACO trade’ in full swing, it’s benefiting from more Optimism around,” Streeter added.

Not every company shared the upside. Switzerland’s Barry Callebaut saw its shares collapse by 17% after the chocolate manufacturer reported a 6.3% drop in sales for the nine months ending May 31. The company also expects a 7% fall in volume for the full year, sparking concern over weak consumer demand.

Asia trades higher as indexes jump, but India and Japan lag behind

Across Asia, markets were mostly green. Shanghai ROSE 0.48% to 3,509.68, Shenzhen climbed 0.47% to 10,631.13, and the Hang Seng Index was up 0.57%, hitting 24,028.37.

The SGX-CNBC China Growth Index advanced 0.67% to 1,594.23, tracking the regional mood. South Korea’s KOSPI led the gains, jumping 1.58% to 3,183.23. Meanwhile, Taiwan saw a solid uptick of 0.74%, with its index reaching 22,693.25.

Australia’s ASX 200 also moved higher by 0.59%, closing at 8,589.2. Singapore’s STI rose 0.44%, and Malaysia’s benchmark index gained 0.48%. But not all Asian bourses followed the rally.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.44% to 39,646.36, weighed down by profit-taking. India’s NIFTY 50 slid 0.47% to 25,355.25, and Thailand’s SETI dropped 0.47% to 1,110.4. New Zealand’s NZX 50 lost 0.07%, landing at 12,760.2.

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