Reports of Israeli airstrikes on Iran have triggered a sharp sell-off across the cryptocurrency market, leading to the liquidation of hundreds of millions in long positions. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP bore the brunt of the sell-off, plunging massively in a matter of hours.
The market action reflects a classic flight to safety, with investors seeking refuge in traditional hedges like crude oil while trimming exposure to digital assets.
Bitcoin (BTC), which just days ago flirted with record highs near $111,000, collapsed 2.8% in under two hours following reports of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran late Thursday night. The cryptocurrency dropped from $106,042 to $103,053 before stabilizing near $104,370 by the time of publication, .
The geopolitical shock caught many traders flat-footed. In the past 24 hours alone, nearly $428 million in Bitcoin long positions were liquidated, . The timing couldn’t have been worse for bulls, as the market had been riding high on optimism after BTC touched $110,265 earlier in the week.
While traditional safe havens like gold and oil surged, rising 1.44% and 11% respectively, Bitcoin faltered. Still, some analysts suggest this divergence may be short-lived.
Entrepreneur and Bitcoin bull Anthony Pompliano noted that the current reaction mirrors what happened during Iran’s October rocket strikes on Israel. Then too, BTC initially fell but outperformed oil and gold within 48 hours. “Will be interesting to see what happens here,” Pompliano said, hinting at a possible rebound.
that Bitcoin’s Net Taker Volume plunged to -197 million USD, the most negative since June 6. This figure signals intense selling pressure, with traders aggressively offloading BTC at market prices rather than setting passive buy orders.
We’re looking at a textbook scenario of panic followed by potential accumulation,
On the other hand, XRP, despite landing a , was not spared the carnage. Traders anticipating a breakout above $2.30 instead faced a brutal reversal. Within 24 hours, $7.95 million in XRP futures were liquidated, of which $7.63 million came from long positions.
XRP’s price fell by 5.71%, dipping to $2.11. Trading volume also dropped 4.71% to $2.8 billion. Similarly, ETH also dropped a whopping 8% in the past 24 hours, currently finding support at the $2,500 price level.
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