Bitcoin Price Drops to $76,000 Following Iran's Closure of Hormuz Strait

The year 2026 witnessed one of its largest short squeezes, which unfolded and dissipated within a single trading session. On Friday, Bitcoin surged to $78,000, triggering the liquidation of $762 million in positions across 168,336 traders, with $593 million of those losses attributed to short positions, according to data from CoinGlass. However, by Saturday evening in Asian markets, Bitcoin had retreated to $76,091, posting a modest 0.8% gain for the day, as Iran announced the reclosure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, less than 24 hours after its foreign minister declared it fully open. Two tanker owners informed Bloomberg that their vessels received Iranian radio transmissions indicating the waterway's closure, with one supertanker reporting gunfire and subsequently aborting its transit. The Iranian state news agency, Nour, stated that the Strait of Hormuz had returned to 'strict management and control by the armed forces' in response to a US blockade of Iranian shipping, prompting several oil tankers that had begun approaching the strait on the initial reopening news to turn back. Friday's rally culminated in a $590 million rout of short positions, with Bitcoin shorts 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. The setup for this event had been building for weeks, with funding rates on Bitcoin perpetuals remaining negative, indicating that shorts were paying longs a premium to maintain their positions. The catalyst for the flip was Friday's news of the Hormuz Strait's reopening, which led to a nearly 10% decline in crude oil prices to $85.90 per barrel and propelled Bitcoin above the $76,000-$78,000 zone that had capped every rally attempt since the February 5 crash. However, President Donald Trump's statement on Friday night that Iran had agreed to an 'unlimited' suspension of its nuclear program was not confirmed by Tehran, and none of these developments survived into Saturday intact. The market pattern is now familiar, where ceasefire headlines drive a rally, but a reversal headline arrives before the breakout can consolidate, leading to a forced unwind and another setup to work against. While Bitcoin retreated, Ether held up better, posting a 0.2% decline over 24 hours, whereas Solana dropped 1.3% and Dogecoin fell 2.1%. On a weekly basis, Ether is still up 5.2%, XRP leads with a 6.4% gain, BNB added 4.6%, and Bitcoin sits at 4.5%. The question now is whether the $76,000 zone will hold into Monday's open, as a clean weekly close above $76,000 would preserve the structural break, even if the peace trade continues to whipsaw. A loss of this level would put Bitcoin 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.