Bitcoin jumped 3% to $69,120 on Monday as traders returned from the Easter weekend with a burst of optimism surrounding a possible ceasefire in Iran, pushing the largest cryptocurrency to its highest level in more than a week and squeezing out $196 million in short positions in the past 24 hours.
Ether led a surge among major tokens with a 3.7% gain to $2,130, its strongest daily move of the past week. SOL rose 2% to $82, XRP added 2.2% to $1.34 and dogecoin rose 1.7% to $0.093. The broad rally brought the total crypto market capitalization back above $2.5 trillion.
The catalyst was a report from Axios that the United States, Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing terms for a possible 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the six-week conflict.
Reports that more ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz added to the relief, even as Trump issued increasingly aggressive threats to destroy Iran’s power plants starting Tuesday.
The settlement data tells the story of how the market was positioned heading into the weekend.
Of the $273.8 million in total 24-hour liquidations among 81,819 traders, short positions accounted for $196.7 million versus $77.1 million in long positions, a nearly 3-to-1 ratio indicating that traders were strongly positioned for further declines after last week’s collapse in sentiment. The largest single liquidation was a $10.17 million short on ETH-USDT on Binance.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour range extended from $66,634 to $69,350, a $2,700 swing that caught the worst of the shorting.
The move came after Santiment data over the weekend showed that sentiment on social media had reached its most bearish bias since the war began, with five negative posts for every four positive ones. As is often the case with cryptocurrencies, the most bearish sentiment reading of the cycle produced the sharpest rebound.
The move reclaims the top of bitcoin’s five-week war range, but does not break it. The $65,000 to $73,000 channel that has contained all rallies and selling since the conflict began remains intact.
The $71,500 and $81,200 resistance levels, corresponding to the trader’s lower band and on-chain realized price indicators as tracked in a CoinDesk report, sit above as the next significant tests if ceasefire momentum holds.
Whether this demonstration has more substance than the last three depends entirely on whether the 45-day ceasefire materializes or becomes another headline that withdraws in 48 hours.
