Bitcoin Price Drops to $76,000 After Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz Again

The year 2026 witnessed one of its largest short squeezes, occurring within a single trading session. Bitcoin reached a high of $78,000 on Friday, triggering $762 million in liquidations across 168,336 traders, with $593 million of these being short positions, according to CoinGlass. By Saturday evening, bitcoin had retreated to $76,091, representing a mere 0.8% increase for the day, after Iran announced the reclosure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, less than 24 hours after its foreign minister declared it fully open. This development was marked by Iranian radio transmissions to two tanker owners, with one supertanker reporting gunfire and subsequently aborting its transit. In response to a U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping, the state news agency Nour stated that the Strait of Hormuz would be subject to 'strict management and control by the armed forces.' Several oil tankers that had approached the strait following the initial reopening news ultimately turned back. The breakout rally on Friday culminated in a $590 million rout of short positions, with bitcoin accounting for $381 million in liquidations, the largest share, followed by ether shorts at $167 million. Shorts outnumbered longs by nearly four to one, representing the most significant short-heavy breakdown in a liquidation event since February. This setup had been building over several weeks, with funding rates on bitcoin perpetuals remaining negative, indicating that shorts were paying longs a premium to hold their positions. The catalyst for the reversal was the initial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which led to a 10% decline in crude oil prices to $85.90 per barrel and prompted bitcoin to break above the $76,000-$78,000 zone that had capped every rally attempt since the February 5 crash. However, these developments were short-lived, as President Donald Trump's claim that Iran had agreed to an 'unlimited' suspension of its nuclear program was not confirmed by Tehran. The market pattern that has emerged is one where ceasefire headlines drive a rally, only to be followed by a reversal headline that prevents the breakout from consolidating. The forced unwind then sets the stage for another setup to work against. In the retreat, ether performed relatively better than bitcoin, with a 0.2% decline over 24 hours, while solana and dogecoin dropped 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively. On a weekly basis, ether remains up 5.2%, with XRP leading at 6.4%, BNB adding 4.6%, and bitcoin sitting at 4.5%. The key question now is whether the $76,000 zone will hold into Monday's open. A clean weekly close above $76,000 would preserve the structural break, even if the peace trade continues to whipsaw. Conversely, a loss of this level would mean that bitcoin is back in the same range it has been trapped in since March, only this time with the short base that just got wiped out looking to rebuild.