The $73,000 ceiling that rejected bitcoin three times in eight days just broke.
Bitcoin rose 4.8% to $74,484 late on Monday, its highest price since before the war with Iran began in late February, after President Trump indicated his willingness to resume talks with Tehran even as the United States blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
The move triggered $534 million in cryptocurrency liquidations among 180,000 traders, of which $430 million came from short positions, the second major contraction in less than a week.
Ether led the major currencies with a 7.7% jump to $2,366, up 12.4% on the week and outperforming bitcoin by a wide margin. Solana’s SOL rose 4.6% to $85.80, a weekly increase of 7.6%. BNB gained 3.3% to $615.80. XRP rose 2.9% to $1.36. Dogecoin added 2.7% to $0.094. All top 10 assets are in green on both the daily and weekly charts.
The largest single liquidation was a $12.4 million short on BTC-USDT on Aster. Bitcoin accounted for $229 million in total liquidations and ether followed with $136 million. The smaller RAVE token added $43 million in liquidations as prices rose 66%, and Solana contributed $12 million.
The S&P 500 has now erased all losses caused by the Iran conflict, and the MSCI All Country World Index is heading for its eighth consecutive day of gains, the longest winning streak since September.
Brent crude fell 1.3% to $98 as markets priced in the possibility of new talks before the April 7 ceasefire expires next week. Treasury yields fell one basis point to 4.28% as cheaper oil eased inflation concerns.
The 12-hour liquidation period was where the damage was concentrated, with $379 million wiped out in that period, of which $327 million came from short positions. The ratio of short-to-long selloffs, about 4 to 1 over 12 hours, reflects the extent to which the market was still positioned for failure at $73,000, even after last week’s ceasefire bounce had already punished that trade once.
For bitcoin specifically, the break above $73,000 places the next resistance in the Price Realized by Traders near $79,000, the level that analytics firm CryptoQuant identified as the point where active traders who bought during the drawdown break even and tend to sell.
Between here and there, the road has less technical resistance than at any point since the war began.
However, the risk remains the same. Trump ordered the blockade of Hormuz after weekend talks in Islamabad yielded no agreement. The ceasefire expires next week. But the United States and Iran are discussing another round of talks, with markets interpreting the blockade itself as a targeted pressure tool rather than an escalation, designed to curb Iran’s oil revenues while paving the way for an eventual resumption of shipping.
