Bitcoin hit a 12-week high of $79,399 overnight before sellers stepped in during the Asian morning on Monday, stifling a rally that saw the asset hit $80,000 for the first time since January.
Bitcoin traded at $77,705 on Monday morning, down 0.4% over 24 hours after climbing to $79,399 around 09:00 IST and reversing sharply during the Asian session. Ether slipped 2.4% to $2,329, Solana 1.9% to $86 and BNB 1.2% to $630. The rally that took bitcoin to its highest level since January 31 ended mid-morning Singapore time.
The upward push came from an Axios report that Iran offered a new proposal to the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with nuclear negotiations delayed until the US naval blockade is lifted.
Asian stocks followed this trend. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.7%, the Emerging Markets Index hit a record and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing jumped 6% to its own record. Brent crude pared gains from 2.5% earlier to rise 1% to $106.50 a barrel.
Bitcoin briefly traded with the risk move and then pulled back. The rejection at $79,399 has a clear technical explanation. Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said $80,000 is the level where many recent buyers are getting close to breaking even, which historically produces selling pressure as these traders exit positions they’ve been underwater on for weeks.
Bitcoin is up 16% in April, on pace with its first double-digit monthly gain since May 2025. Strategy purchased $3.9 billion worth of Bitcoin this month according to Bloomberg, the company’s largest monthly accumulation in a year.
Perpetual futures funding rates on major exchanges remain negative 7-day at -0.13% per Coinglass, meaning shorts are still paying longs to hold positions, which is the structural setup that produces a squeeze if the spot can hold above the recent equilibrium group.
The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank both made policy decisions this week, and mega-cap tech profits include the four largest U.S. companies by market capitalization.
Either the Fed or a single earnings hike could provide the catalyst that the Bitcoin band has been missing. Without this, the third rejection of $79,000 in eight sessions begins to define the range rather than preceding the breakout.
