Bitcoin prices rebounded after a weekend sell-off tied to US‑Israeli air strikes on Iran and reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader had been killed. BTC rose to about $68,200 in early Sunday trading on Coinbase, according to TradingView, recovering losses from a dip to roughly $63,000 on Saturday and gaining about $5,000 in less than 24 hours.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading near Friday’s levels, around $67,350, and remained inside a three‑week range‑bound channel. Over the prior 24 hours roughly 157,000 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations around $657 million — split roughly evenly between leveraged longs and shorts, CoinGlass data showed.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council reported that Ayatollah Khamenei was killed on Saturday at his office, a development reported by the BBC. The commander‑in‑chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Pakpour, and the secretary of Iran’s Defense Council, Ali Shamkhani, were also reported killed in the strikes.
US former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social calling Khamenei “one of the most evil people in history,” and said the killing was “not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans, and those people from many countries throughout the world, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs.”
Market analysts noted the jump in BTC prices followed perceptions that the killings could signal an end to the US‑Iran conflict. Analyst Ash Crypto commented that markets “pumped because people are taking it as the end of the US‑Iran war,” and added that if signs of resolution appear before Monday’s open, Bitcoin could hold its gains and move higher.
Despite the rebound, Bitcoin just closed its third‑worst February on record and only the fourth February loss since 2013. BTC fell just under 15% in February; its worst February was 2014 (down about 31%), followed by 2025 (down about 17.4%), per CoinGlass. The asset is also on track to record its worst first quarter since 2018, having lost almost 23% so far this year.