Bitcoin has now fallen from the $70,000 level three times since the February 5 crash, as Wednesday’s Asian session found the market back at $67,600 after another failed attempt earlier in the week.
BTC was trading at $67,612 as of morning Asian hours on Wednesday, down 0.7% over the past 24 hours but up 3.4% on the week as the post-strike recovery held. Ether fell 2.2% to $1,957, giving back some of its layoff but still up 2.6% on a seven-day basis. BNB was the quiet outperformer, up 5.2% on the week to $629.
The damage was concentrated further down the board. Dogecoin fell 2.9% in 24 hours and is down 3.9% on the week. Cardano fell 4.2% on the day and 3.5% over seven days. Solana lost 0.8% to $85.16 and remains the worst performing major on a weekly basis at -4.2%, still bearing the brunt of Saturday’s selloff. XRP remained relatively flat, falling 1.3% to $1.35 for a modest weekly gain of 1.5%.
The pattern across the board is the same. Most majors recovered from weekend lows but failed to hold Tuesday’s highs, leaving the market in a holding pattern as it awaits clarity on the Iran situation and Monday’s traditional market reaction to unwind.
“BTC bouncing back to $70,000 looks like a classic shock, flush, recovery move. Much of the weekend selling was forced and liquidity was thin, so the pullback could be quick once the pressure is lifted,” Wojciech Kaszycki, CSO of BTCS SA, said in an email. “After BTC’s move back above $70,000, the real signal isn’t the price rally. It’s whether ETF inflows remain steady this week.”
FxPro chief analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that Tuesday’s rejection “forces us to consider a drop to $63K as a working scenario” if the upper limit continues to hold.
The macro background doesn’t help. Asian stocks sold off sharply on Wednesday, with South Korean stocks posting their biggest two-day drop since 2008 as the Iran conflict continued to rattle investors.
Tech stocks across the MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 4%, dragged down by Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The Indian rupee fell to a record low due to oil prices. Gold climbed higher, dragging silver with it for the first time this week.
Oil remains the most important variable. Brent jumped again on Wednesday despite the US announcing plans to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the weekend strikes.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump introduced an insurance scheme for oil tankers but gave no details. The longer the strait remains disrupted, the more energy prices factor into inflation expectations, pushing interest rate cuts further out, tightening the liquidity environment that drives risk assets.
“We believe Bitcoin is an emerging reserve asset,” Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, said in comments to CoinDesk. “Many people simply cannot fully accept this yet because it is easier to invest in gold, which has been around for many years, than in Bitcoin, which is still young and risky.”
Chen pointed to the broader disappointment in crypto markets after previous crashes, noting that “the current decline in Bitcoin is largely driven by this disappointment, especially against the backdrop of rising stocks, gold, silver and stock indices hitting new highs.”
