Bombs, not bears, just dragged Bitcoin to its lowest level since the Feb. 5 crash.
US and Israeli forces launched a joint strike on Iran early Saturday, sending BTC spiraling from $65,500 to $63,000 in under an hour. Ethereum slid to around $1,850. Roughly $75 billion in total crypto market cap vanished before most traders even woke up.
Over 154,000 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations hitting $522 million. Of that, $449 million came from longs alone. The largest single wipeout was an $11.17 million BTC position on Aster.
But the real tell is in the derivatives data. BTC futures volume hit $76.27 billion in the past 24 hours while spot volume sat at just $7.62 billion, per CoinGlass data. This was not organic selling but leveraged positions getting force-closed all together.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
In June 2025, when Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities, BTC dropped to around $103,000. By October, it had climbed back to new all-time highs above $125,000. In April 2024, when Iran fired missiles at Israel, BTC fell to $61,000. Months later, it broke previous highs again.
War crashes have historically acted as springboards. But there’s a catch.
The market walking into this strike was already broken.
Bitcoin is down nearly 50% from its October 2025 peak of $126,000. The Fear and Greed Index sits at 14, deep in extreme fear territory. More critically, CryptoQuant confirmed that US spot Bitcoin ETFs have flipped to net sellers in February 2026, reversing last year’s trend when they were net buyers of 46,000 BTC.
On Deribit, the $60,000 put remains the largest put position by open interest at over 5,200 BTC, with the $55,000 put close behind at 4,657 BTC. Put volume in the last 24 hours has edged past call volume at 50.85% vs 49.15%.
The big players are betting on more pain.
Not everything points down. Exchange netflows show roughly 522 BTC leaving platforms, which is an accumulation signal even as retail panics. Someone is buying what others are panic-selling.
The key level now is $63,100, where descending channel support sits. A clean break below that opens the door to $60,000. On the upside, $73,000 to $74,000 remains heavy resistance.
The pattern says bounce. The structure says caution. Which one wins likely depends on what Iran does next.
Bitcoin fell as geopolitical shock triggered mass liquidations. Leveraged long positions were force-closed, accelerating the drop.
Past Iran-linked shocks caused sharp BTC drops but were followed by strong rebounds months later, though conditions differ now.
Yes. US spot Bitcoin ETFs turned net sellers in February 2026, signaling reduced institutional demand during this downturn.
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