Shares of embattled carmaker Tesla have reached a "death cross" this week, indicating heightened volatility and the potential for future losses.A "death cross" is a financial term meaning when a company's 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day average, as Business Insider explains. It's the first time the EV maker has flashed a death cross since May 2022.While there's no guarantee the carmaker's shares are about to crash — death crosses have also been known to lead to a quick rebound — the indicator has historically signalled rough days ahead."While every major decline starts with a 'death cross,' not every 'death cross' leads to a major decline," Oppenheimer & Co. head of technical analysis Ari Wald told BI last month.Still, the company is facing clear real-world headwinds. Tesla shares have dropped by around 50 percent since December, shortly after Donald Trump was elected.Since then, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's highly divisive behavior, including an embrace of far-right ideologies and the plundering of government agencies, has spawned an entire protest movement against the already tarnished brand.Sales have plummeted across the globe, with weary consumers opting for a growing number of alternatives, many from China.Even Trump organizing a bizarre sales event for Tesla on the lawn in front of the White House last month appears to have done little to reassure buyers and investors alike.Investors are bracing for bad news ahead of Tesla's Q1 earnings call next week. Early delivery numbers for the January-March period have already fallen well short of expectations.It's also bigger than Tesla. Alongside the carmaker, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes flashed a death cross formation on Monday, highlighting major volatility in the markets amid Trump's tariff war.While Musk's long-rumored departure from the White House caused Tesla shares to rally earlier this month, there's still no clear indication of when the billionaire will actually leave his post as the de facto leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Investors have long accused him of becoming distracted and abandoning the carmaker in favor of side quests like gutting federal agencies.And to many, the damage has already been done. Tesla's "brand issues would create permanent brand destruction," warned longtime Tesla investor and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.Whether a narrowing focus on advanced driver assistance technologies and robotics will save Tesla from financial doom remains to be seen.Musk has promised to show off an autonomous "Cybercab" before the end of 2025. It's an extremely ambitious technological undertaking that could take years to pay off.Meanwhile, the EV maker is still reeling from steep tariffs aimed at the automotive industry, which could drive costs even higher, further complicating a much-needed recovery.More on Tesla: Tesla Accused of Hacking Odometers to Rip Off CustomersShare This Article