Bitcoin climbed to its highest price in nearly a month, sparking hundreds of millions of dollars in liquidations as hopes of a deal between the Trump administration and Iran boosted crypto market sentiment.
The overall crypto market rose to about $2.6 trillion, its largest level in a month, with CoinGlass reporting 177,000 traders liquidated for roughly $530 million over the past 24 hours. Most liquidations happened in the past 12 hours, and about 80%—some $425 million—were leveraged short positions in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Analyst “Bull Theory” posted to X that over $300 billion in crypto shorts were liquidated in recent hours, a move the analyst said added more than $100 billion to total market capitalization.
“This isn’t a breakout. It’s a short squeeze running into overhead supply,” Valerius Labs commented. “Real buyers show up above the 200 SMA [simple moving average], not 15% below it.”
Bitcoin touched a four-week high just below $75,000 on Coinbase in late trading Tuesday, according to TradingView, before facing heavy resistance and retreating to around $74,290 at the time of reporting. Ether made a larger daily move, gaining about 7.5% to $2,380, its strongest level since early February.
Derivatives activity appears to have driven much of the move, though broader hope for a US–Iran deal to end weeks of conflict that has weighed on global markets may be encouraging investors toward risk assets. Institutional inflows via spot crypto ETFs and centralized exchanges buying Bitcoin could also be contributing.
Traders say optimism over an Iran deal is a key factor. Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, told Cointelegraph that the rally is largely because “traders believe the US and Iran are coming closer to a deal.” He noted Iran’s economy relies on oil exports and that a US blockade of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz could severely harm its economy, suggesting Iran may be urgently seeking a deal, which is prompting rallies in stocks and crypto.
A US military blockade began Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that any Iranian ships approaching the blockade would be “immediately eliminated,” comparing the action to methods used against drug traffickers at sea.
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