Bitcoin fell sharply at the start of the new business week after briefly rising above $79,000 on Sunday evening. The cryptocurrency dropped below $77,000 within roughly an hour as renewed geopolitical tensions weighed on global financial markets.
The sell-off followed fresh fighting between the United States and Iran after nearly a month of relative calm, during which the US reportedly focused on increasing economic pressure. US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, while Iran retaliated with attacks on military targets in Jordan.
US President Trump’s AI video depicting Iran’s key oil region, Kharg Island, as being “blown to smithereens” also did little to ease tensions.
Oil Prices Rise as Asian Markets Fall
Brent crude rose nearly 3% to above $90 per barrel, reviving concerns about another energy-driven inflation shock. The increase comes shortly after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, making higher oil prices particularly concerning for the inflation outlook.
Asian stock markets moved lower after news of the attacks emerged. Japan’s Nikkei fell by about 2%, while South Korea’s Kospi and Chinese equities also declined. US and European stock futures followed the broader risk-off trend, and the Japanese yen weakened beyond 160 against the US dollar.
Bitcoin lost more than $2,000, falling below $77,000. Additional selling pressure came from Wintermute after on-chain data showed that the entity had transferred 5,100 $BTC, worth nearly $400 million, to Binance over the previous two days. The transfer may indicate an intention to sell.
Although the transaction does not confirm that Wintermute sold its holdings, similar activity by the market maker last week preceded another decline in $BTC and altcoins.
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Ethereum performed even worse, dropping from above $2,500 to below $2,400 within an hour. Lookonchain reported that a whale or institution had deposited nearly 41,000 $ETH, worth more than $100 million, onto exchanges. Such transfers are typically made ahead of a potential sale.
Crypto Liquidations Surge
The sharp market decline resulted in more than $400 million in liquidated positions over a 24-hour period, with most of the losses occurring earlier in the morning. According to CoinGlass, $ETH long positions accounted for nearly $100 million of the liquidations, while $BTC longs represented $62.60 million.
The largest individual liquidation involved Ethereum, with a trader losing $6.12 million on Aster. More than 100,000 overleveraged traders were liquidated during the past day.
Liquidation Data on CoinGlass
