Bitcoin recovered to roughly $66,500 after weekend turmoil linked to strikes on Iran unleashed about $300 million in forced liquidations across crypto markets. Despite a surge in oil and weakness in equities, parts of the DeFi sector showed relative strength.
The largest cryptocurrency rose 1.1% since midnight UTC and is up more than 5% from its weekend low near $63,000. Even with last week’s sharp swings — which saw prices test $70,000 on the upside and $62,500 on the downside — bitcoin remains confined to the range that has dominated trading since early February.
The volatility followed military strikes that reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, prompting retaliatory action and raising concerns about possible disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for global energy flows.
Trading firm QCP estimated that the initial shock triggered around $300 million in long liquidations. However, the scale of deleveraging was relatively limited, indicating traders may have already positioned defensively ahead of the weekend escalation.
Traditional safe-haven assets rallied in response. Gold and silver climbed to one-month highs, while oil prices spiked 13% to $82 per barrel — the strongest level since July 2024. U.S. equity index futures declined, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts down 1.1% and 1.5%, respectively, since midnight UTC.
Most crypto losses were concentrated on Saturday, when U.S. markets were closed, suggesting the asset class absorbed the shock before traditional investors returned.
Derivatives snapshot
Market positioning reflects contained stress. Aggregate crypto futures open interest has slipped 2% to $93.78 billion but remains above the recent trough of $92.40 billion.
More than $300 million in leveraged positions were liquidated over 24 hours, primarily bullish bets. Perpetual funding rates for bitcoin and ether have turned slightly negative, signaling a mild bearish bias rather than outright panic.
Volatility indicators echo that view. Bitcoin’s 30-day annualized implied volatility index (BVIV) is steady around 58.8%, still within last week’s range. Ether’s volatility profile shows a similar pattern.
On Deribit, short-term bitcoin puts traded at an 8%–10% volatility premium over calls, highlighting demand for downside protection. The $60,000 put remains the most actively traded contract, with block activity centered on put spreads.
Token movers
Altcoins generally tracked bitcoin’s weekend decline and rebound, though some DeFi tokens outperformed. Lending protocol token MORPHO extended its two-week rally, gaining 5% over the past day and 2.6% since midnight UTC.
Other decentralized finance names — including JUP, AAVE and LDO — also posted gains, indicating speculative interest persists despite the broader shift toward defensive assets.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token jumped more than 29% on Saturday, breaking its February downtrend. Although it slipped 3.8% on Monday, it remains above the key $30 support zone.
Meanwhile, WLFI — the DeFi token linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s family — extended its slide, dropping 2.5% since midnight and more than 44% from mid-January levels amid a pattern of lower highs and lower lows.
Among CoinDesk benchmarks, the DeFi Select (DFX) Index was the only gauge in positive territory over the past 24 hours. The Computing Select Index (CPUS) and the Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index (SCPXC) were the weakest performers, falling 1.87% and 1.71%, respectively.
