Bearish bets lose $430 million as BTC, ETH surge as much as 7%
The six-week range that capped every rally at $73,000 finally broke on Monday as stocks erased all Iran war losses and Trump signaled willingness to resume peace talks.
What to know:
- Bitcoin broke through the closely watched $73,000 ceiling to hit $74,484, its highest level since before the Iran war began, after President Trump signaled openness to renewed talks with Tehran.
- The surge triggered about $534 million in crypto liquidations, mostly from short positions, as ether and other major tokens outperformed and every top-10 asset posted daily and weekly gains.
- While risk assets rallied and oil and Treasury yields eased, traders see bitcoin’s next key resistance near $79,000, even as geopolitical risks persist with a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and an Iran cease-fire set to expire next week.
The move triggered $534 million in crypto liquidations across 180,000 traders, with $430 million coming from shorts, the second major squeeze in less than a week.
Ether led the majors with a 7.7% jump to $2,366, now up 12.4% on the week and outperforming bitcoin by a wide margin. Solana’s SOL climbed 4.6% to $85.80, up 7.6% weekly. BNB gained 3.3% to $615.80. XRP rose 2.9% to $1.36. Dogecoin added 2.7% to $0.094. Every asset in the top 10 is green on both the daily and weekly chart.
The largest single liquidation was a $12.4 million BTC-USDT short on Aster. Bitcoin accounted for $229 million in total liquidations and ether followed at $136 million. Smaller token RAVE added $43 million in liquidations as prices surged 66%, and Solana contributed $12 million.
The S&P 500 has now erased all losses triggered by the Iran conflict, with the MSCI All Country World Index heading for its eighth consecutive day of gains, the longest winning streak since September.
