Bitcoin gave back last week’s gains in a single weekend.
The largest cryptocurrency slipped to $69,192 on Sunday morning, down 2.2% in the past 24 hours and 3.1% for the week, after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on Saturday evening demanding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on the country’s power plants.
Trump said he would “strike and destroy” Iran’s power plants, starting with the largest, if the street was not open to commercial shipping.
The threat marks a dramatic escalation from Friday, when Trump said he planned to “end” the military operation. Going from a slowdown to a threat to civilian infrastructure in 24 hours shook a market that had spent the previous week building confidence around de-escalation.
The liquidation data shows just how one-sided the positioning was heading into the weekend. Data from CoinGlass shows $299 million in total liquidations over the past 24 hours among 84,239 traders, with long liquidations accounting for $254 million, or about 85% of the total.
Bitcoin long positions suffered $122 million in damage. Ether lost $95.7 million. The biggest liquidation was a $10 million BTC-USDT swap on OKX. The lopsided ratio confirms that the market was strongly bullish after eight straight days of gains heading into the weekend, making it vulnerable to exactly this type of global shock.
Meanwhile, major tokens fell at the same rate. Ether fell 1.8% to $2,114, The only green majors of the week were ether at 0.8% and solana at 0.7%. Everything else is red over seven days.
The 48-hour window means the deadline is Monday evening. If Iran does not comply, and there is no indication that it will, the market will face the prospect of strikes on power infrastructure, which would be the first direct target of civilian energy systems in the conflict.
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to most commercial traffic, with around 20% of global oil and gas flows still disrupted.
Last week’s rise to $75,912 now appears to be the result of speculation about a ceasefire that evaporated over the weekend. The Fed held rates Wednesday with a dovish stance that should have supported risky assets, but the lingering risk of war headlines is preventing traders from making outsized directional bets.