Bitcoin broke below $73,000 for the first time in months as new US attacks on Iran sent risk assets lower and triggered one of the biggest liquidation events of the year.
Bitcoin traded at $72,978 in Asian hours on Thursday, down 3.4% over 24 hours and 6.3% over the past seven days, per CoinDesk data, after hitting a low of $72,912. TEther (ETH) fell 4.2% to $1,976, missing the $2,000 level and is down 7.7% over the past seven days. Solana (SOL) fell 3.5% to $80.57, XRP fell 3.6% to $1.28, and Dogecoin lost 3.2% to $0.0979.
Hyperliquid ( HYPE ) was the only major gainer for the week, down 4.5% on the day but still up 2.4% over the past seven days. Tron (TRX) had a weekly gain of 1.9% despite the broad decline.
The fall washed out leveraged traders. CoinGlass data shows $958.8 million in total liquidations over 24 hours across 167,706 traders, with $897 million coming from long positions and $61 million from shorts.
Bitcoin liquidations led to $386 million, followed by ether at $246 million, with the single largest liquidation order being a $15.34 million BTC position on Hyperliquid.
A long 93% bias on a near billion dollar flush is what happens when traders are positioned for a rally and the market moves the other way. The leverage built up through the mid-May range was cleared in a single session.
The trigger came from the Middle East. The US Central Command carried out airstrikes on an Iranian military site near the Strait of Hormuz, shooting down four one-way Iranian attack drones fired at a commercial ship, with a US official describing the action as defensive and aimed at maintaining the ceasefire that began last month.
The US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Iran’s Persian Gulf Authority, accusing it of extorting ships passing through the strait. Iran targeted the US air base the attacks originated from, according to a report citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Kuwait said it was responding to enemy missile and drone threats, with its army warning that explosions heard in the country were air defense systems intercepting targets.
President Donald Trump said no single nation would control the waterway. “It’s international waters,” Trump said at a White House cabinet meeting. “The strait will be open to all,” adding that the United States would “watch over it.”
Risk assets fell across the board. The MSCI All Country World index retreated 0.4% from a record high, a gauge of Asian shares fell 1.7% and S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures pointed lower. Oil rose as the strikes clouded prospects for a deal to reopen the strait.
The reaction shows how quickly the cease-fire optimism that was building up is winding down. Crypto had held its range through several weeks of Iran headlines, with bitcoin holding above $74,000 even as ETF demand cooled. Thursday’s strikes broke that floor, and the speed of the liquidation cascade suggests traders were caught leaning the wrong way.
