Bitcoin fell below $73,000 for the first time in months as new US strikes on Iran sent risk assets lower and triggered one of the biggest sell-off events of the year.
Bitcoin was trading at $72,978 during Asian hours on Thursday, down 3.4% over 24 hours and 6.3% over the past seven days, according to CoinDesk data, after touching a low of $72,912. TEther (ETH) fell 4.2% to $1,976, losing the $2,000 level, and is down 7.7% over the past seven days. Solana (SOL) fell 3.5% to $80.57, XRP slipped 3.6% to $1.28 and Dogecoin lost 3.2% to $0.0979.
Hyperliquide (HYPE) was the only major to make a weekly gain, down 4.5% on the day but still up 2.4% over the past seven days. Tron (TRX) posted a 1.9% weekly gain despite a broad decline.
The decline has scared away leveraged traders. Data from CoinGlass shows $958.8 million in total liquidations over 24 hours from 167,706 traders, including $897 million from long positions and $61 million from short positions.
Bitcoin liquidations reached $386 million, followed by ether at $246 million, with the largest liquidation order being a $15.34 million BTC position on Hyperliquide.
A 93% long bias on a nearly $1 billion surge is what happens when traders are positioned for a rally and the market moves the other way. The leverage accumulated until mid-May was cleared in a single session.
The trigger came from the Middle East. U.S. Central Command carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site near the Strait of Hormuz and shot down four one-way Iranian attack drones fired at a commercial ship, with a U.S. official calling the action defensive and aimed at maintaining the ceasefire in effect last month.
The US Treasury has imposed new sanctions on Iran’s Persian Gulf Straits Authority, accusing it of extorting ships transiting the strait. Iran targeted the US air base where the strikes originated, according to a report citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Kuwait said it was responding to hostile missile and drone threats, with its military warning that explosions heard in the country were air defense systems intercepting targets.
President Donald Trump has said no single nation will control the waterway. “These are international waters,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House. “The strait will be open to everyone,” adding that the United States “will watch over it.”
Risky assets fell across the board. The MSCI All Country World Index fell 0.4% from a record high, the Asian Stock Index fell 1.7% and S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures pointed lower. Oil rose as strikes dampened prospects for a deal to reopen the strait.
The reaction shows how quickly the optimism for a ceasefire that had been building collapsed. The crypto held its range through several weeks of Iranian headlines, with bitcoin remaining above $74,000 even as ETF demand cooled. Thursday’s strikes broke that bottom, and the speed of the cascade of liquidations suggests traders were caught leaning the wrong way.
