The sharp movement in the cryptocurrency market on Friday led to huge losses, especially for short positions. Bitcoin tested the $ 78,000 level with a rapid rise on Friday evening, and a total position of $ 762 million was liquidated during this movement. According to CoinGlass data, $593 million of this total came from short positions, that is, investors betting that the price would fall.
Strategic turning point: Strait of Hormuz crisis and domino effect on the market
During Asian hours, Bitcoin fell again to $76,091. Although there was a limited increase of 0.8 percent on a daily basis, the most important developments that caused volatility were the statements published by Iranian state channels. Approximately 24 hours after the Iranian Foreign Minister’s statement that the strait was fully opened, it was announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed to ship traffic again. Two tanker owners involved in the incident stated in a statement to Bloomberg that they encountered Iranian radio messages and that a supertanker gave up the passage because it faced the risk of attack.
The state news agency Nour reported that the administration in the strait is back under the strict control of the Iranian Armed Forces. Just before these developments, on Friday, some oil tankers had rapidly advanced to the region following the news that the strait had been opened; However, they changed their route after the new news.
Record liquidation and market balance for short positions
This sudden rise on Friday dealt a major blow to investors who took risky positions, especially in short-term transactions. Ultimately, $590 million in short positions were liquidated; $381 million of this came from Bitcoin transactions alone. The liquidation size of short positions in Ethereum reached 167 million dollars. In this table, the share of short positions in total liquidations was almost four times higher, marking the first time since February that a short-focused liquidation of this scale was seen.
The formation of negative funding rates in Bitcoin perpetual contracts in recent weeks was also effective in bringing the process to this point. These ratios showed that investors preferred to stay short by paying premiums for long positions and pointed out that the expectation of decline in the market was high.
With the news of the opening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the oil price lost nearly 10 percent to $85.90; Bitcoin, on the other hand, tested an important technical level by rising above the $ 76,000-78,000 band, which has not been crossed since the February crash.
Weekly performance: The latest on Ethereum, XRP and others
Although Bitcoin’s rise was short-lived, the general picture in the market was remarkable. During Bitcoin’s retreat, Ethereum dropped 0.2 percent, while Solana lost 1.3 percent and dogecoin lost 2.1 percent. The highest increase on a weekly scale was experienced in XRP with 6.4 percent; Ethereum increased by 5.2 percent, BNB by 4.6 percent and Bitcoin by 4.5 percent.
Whether the $76,000 threshold can be maintained at Monday’s opening stands out as a critical question in terms of technical analysis. If the effect of weekly closing income and political developments remains limited above this level, we can talk about a structural break for Bitcoin. However, if it falls below the level, it seems possible that the price will return to the range it has been stuck in since March.
