Iran tensions wipe $500bn from equities as bitcoin liquidations top $385m

More than $500 billion was erased from US equity markets after President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran effectively over, unsettling risk assets across asset classes and forcing digital-asset traders into one of the sharpest liquidation events of the year. Bitcoin slid towards key technical support as more than 125,000 leveraged positions were closed out within 24 hours, according to data from CoinGlass, with total crypto liquidations surpassing $385 million.

Trump told reporters he no longer regarded the ceasefire as in force, adding, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them anymore; they’re scum.” In separate remarks at the NATO Summit, he said the United States would “probably” strike Iran again that night, unwinding days of reported progress from indirect talks mediated by Qatar and Pakistan in Doha.

Risk-off move spreads from oil to digital assets

Energy markets registered the sharpest immediate reaction, with crude oil climbing roughly 5% and testing resistance near $75 a barrel as traders priced in the possibility of supply disruption. Technical analysis cited in market commentary suggests that a sustained break above $72 could open the way towards $78 in the short term, underscoring how quickly geopolitical risk has been repriced into commodity markets.

Wall Street indices fell in tandem: the S&P 500 dropped roughly 1%, the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.3%. Intraday selling pushed the S&P 500 down to around 7,429 points before it stabilised near 7,437. Notably, gold failed to attract the safe-haven flows typically associated with such shocks, sliding around 2.5% from roughly $4,100 to $4,030, a divergence that will draw scrutiny from institutional allocators reassessing hedging strategies.

Bitcoin fails to reclaim key resistance

Bitcoin extended losses that had already begun following reports earlier in the week of an attack on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The token was trading near $62,200 at the time of writing, having failed to reclaim resistance around $63,200 — a level that coincides with the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement on the daily chart, according to crypto.news.

Technical indicators showed bitcoin remaining below its Supertrend resistance near $65,800 and continuing to trade beneath a descending trendline, pointing to persistent bearish pressure as long as Middle East risk remains elevated. The episode illustrates how directly digital assets, despite their decentralised architecture, remain exposed to conventional macro and geopolitical shocks transmitted through equity and commodity markets rather than through crypto-specific catalysts.

Diplomatic gains unwound within days

Tuesday’s comments came only days after indirect US-Iran negotiations, brokered with Qatari and Pakistani mediation, had reportedly yielded positive momentum. Trump’s remarks have now cast doubt on whether that diplomatic progress can be salvaged, with investors left to weigh the prospect of renewed military escalation against a backdrop of already fragile risk sentiment.

For institutional participants in digital-asset markets, the episode reinforces a recurring theme: geopolitical shocks originating far outside the crypto sector can still trigger cascading liquidations and volatility spikes that dwarf routine market-specific news, a dynamic likely to feature in risk-management discussions as exposure to bitcoin and related instruments continues to grow among traditional institutions.

Read more: Polymarket’s Hormuz-normalcy odds fall to 58% as Trump’s NATO rebuke reprices Gulf risk