Since last week the media has published videos and Chinese politicians' statements about the Chinese military drills near Taiwan. Taiwan has also conducted military exercises and preparatory work with the civilian population in the event of an attack. On August 3, the NYT, quoting Chinese state media, published an article about the following Chinese military drills scheduled on August 4 and a place of exercises. Chinese media offered five swaths of the sea surrounding Taiwan. If true, it can be a hostile act, possibly igniting conflict between China and unrecognized Taiwan. Both countries are essential for the world economy, meaning the conflict would affect markets. I hope it will not happen. However, this risk urged me to start a series of posts 'What would happen to asset_name if China attacks Taiwan?'
A brief: China is the second economy in the world by nominal GDP. Taiwan is the heart of semiconductor manufacturing for all industries across the globe.
In my opinion, Bitcoin today is a risk appetite indicator, which regularly mimics or outpaces changes in the notable stock indexes, e.g., S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. The risk realization would trigger risk aversion pushing the BTC price to the last local support level of $19000. The stop-loss is the previous local high of $24500. However, the level can slightly differ from the spot price. The main risk is conflict duration. The longer the conflict exists, the more sanctions I expect. I can't predict how long Taiwan can fight and what sanctions will be imposed. I doubt that sensitive restrictions would be imposed during the first days. I also doubt that the US will impose harsh sectoral sanctions if China takes over Taiwan quickly. If the conflict would last several months, I suppose bitcoin could drop significantly to $14000. The position holding period is 7 days to next Thursday. If the bad doesn't happen, it is better to close the short position. However, we do not know the date. Solely China knows the exact date if the plan exists. The risk could realize during the next 7 days or be postponed to next month or even later. If the risk realizes later, I expect the same effect on the BTC, and only target adjustments could be needed.
Additionally, the potential conflict would seriously weigh on crypto mining activity because of semiconductor manufacturing termination in Taiwan. A probable semiconductors' deficit leads to the rise of GPU's price in the midterm, elevating mining costs. Miners would have to adapt to the new reality.
I wish you peace!
Thank you for your reading, and have profitable trading! Comment your thoughts!