As of Monday afternoon, crypto and commodity markets experienced high-rate liquidations, closing positions totaling over $400 million in the last four hours. In the background of these developments, US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that military attacks against Iran were postponed for five days and stated that “very good and productive” talks were held between the US and Iran.
Volatility Peaks Before the Waves Calm Down
After Trump’s statement, Bitcoin climbed from $67,500 to over $71,200 in a short time. Then, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency, citing an unnamed source, reported that there was no direct or indirect contact with Trump and that Trump took a step back after receiving information that “all power plants in West Asia will be targeted.” After this statement, there was a rapid withdrawal of $ 1,200 in Bitcoin.
Volatility in the markets caused $415 million in liquidations during the four-hour period, according to CoinGlass data. Of this amount, $280 million came from short positions and $135 million came from long positions. This distribution of approximately two to one showed that positioning focused on the escalating tension in the market was widespread.
Chain Liquidations Happened in the Markets
Among the total liquidations, losses of $140 million were recorded in Bitcoin, $120 million in Ether, and $64 million in Brent oil futures on the Hyperliquid platform. On the tokenized gold and silver side, losses of approximately 21 and 20 million dollars occurred, respectively.
It was observed that almost all liquidations, especially on the oil side, took place in one direction. Most of the $64.4 million in coverage on the BRENTOIL contract on Hyperliquid was at the expense of investors who opened long positions in anticipation of an attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure following Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum. Even though those who maintained their open positions made accurate predictions about the possible direction of the war, they faced great losses as the new news flow changed direction.
Bitcoin, which fluctuated between $67,500 and $68,500 in the Asian session, rose $3,700 in less than an hour with Trump’s post, and then fell $1,200 with the denial from Iran. In the evening hours, it held at $70,000 levels and maintained its rise during the day at 2.3 percent.
Consistent with previous Binance data, during periods when futures volume increases fivefold compared to spot volume, there is an increased risk that the reaction to headlines will trigger two-way liquidation waves. After a development, short positions are squeezed, and long positions are liquidated with the following opposing news.
As a result, while net price movements remain limited, it stands out that investors using high leverage suffer serious losses.
