A convergence of record highs in global stocks, oil at multi-month lows and a tentative extension of the US-Iran ceasefire did little to support bitcoin prices.
The largest token is still hovering near $73,000 after falling nearly 6% on the week as institutional buyers await US regulatory clarity rather than macro headlines.
Ether (ETH) traded just below $2,000, down 6.4% on the week, even after a 1.2% return on the day, while solana (SOL), XRP and each lost between 4.9% and 6.7% over the past seven days, despite small gains in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk’s prices page. Hyperliquids HYPE bucked the trend, up 5.8% on the week.
The macro tape, meanwhile, lit up. The MSCI All Country World index, the broadest measure of global shares, rose 0.3% to a record high, and Asian shares rose 2% to their own record, Bloomberg reported.
Brent crude fell 0.5% to around $93 a barrel and is now down more than 18% in May, its worst month since March 2020, after the United States and Iran reached a tentative agreement to extend their ceasefire by 60 days and reopen talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The agreement still requires President Donald Trump’s signature, and Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the memorandum of understanding had not yet been finalized.
This setup, in any other tape, prints money for crypto, but didn’t this time.
Javier Martinez, managing director at sFOX, said in an email that the market had already priced in a relief rally on the news of the truce and that the trade settled as bitcoin failed to break higher.
Institutional investors are now looking past the Tehran headlines and toward Washington, he said, pointing to U.S. crypto market structure legislation like the CLARITY Act. “They’re waiting for regulatory confirmation, not just macro improvement,” Martinez said.
Analysts at FxPro said bitcoin has fallen below its 50-day moving average and the longer-term 200-day average is dipping lower, the kind of crossover that has tended to mark stretches of broader weakness. “The time for a long-term bull market has not yet arrived,” they wrote.
Earlier this week, Swissblock said bitcoin has slipped into a “high-risk zone” amid selling pressure and a fading bid from spot bitcoin ETFs, the institutional product that drove much of the 2024-2025 rally. Softer ETF demand and a market no longer trading all Iran headlines leaves crypto without an obvious near-term driver.
