Bitcoin staged a recovery after a weekend sell-off prompted by US‑Israeli air strikes on Iran and reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader had been killed. BTC briefly climbed to about $68,200 in early Sunday trading on Coinbase, according to TradingView, erasing losses from a dip near $63,000 on Saturday and gaining roughly $5,000 in under 24 hours.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading near Friday’s levels, around $67,350, and remained inside a three‑week range. Over the prior 24 hours, CoinGlass data showed roughly 157,000 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations near $657 million — split roughly evenly between leveraged longs and shorts.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on Saturday at his office, a development also reported by the BBC. Reports said the commander‑in‑chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Pakpour, and the secretary of Iran’s Defense Council, Ali Shamkhani, were among those killed in the strikes.
Former US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, calling Khamenei “one of the most evil people in history” and saying the killing represented justice for victims of the regime, comments that amplified the political reaction online.
Market observers linked the sharp intra‑week volatility to the geopolitical shock and the perception that the strikes — and reported deaths — might change the trajectory of the US‑Iran confrontation. Crypto analyst Ash Crypto said markets “pumped because people are taking it as the end of the US‑Iran war,” and suggested that if signs of de‑escalation appear before Monday’s open, Bitcoin could hold its gains and potentially move higher.
Despite the bounce, February was a poor month for Bitcoin: the token just closed its third‑worst February on record and only the fourth February loss since 2013. BTC fell just under 15% in February, according to CoinGlass; its worst February remains 2014 (down about 31%), followed by 2025 (down about 17.4%).
Year‑to‑date performance also remains weak. Bitcoin is on track for its worst first quarter since 2018, having lost almost 23% so far this year, leaving investors watchful for whether the recent rebound will hold as markets digest the geopolitical developments and positioning ahead of the new trading week.