Bitcoin Price Drops to $76,000 After Iran Reverses Hormuz Reopening

The year 2026 witnessed one of its largest short squeezes, which unfolded and resolved within a single trading session. Bitcoin reached a high of $78,000 on Friday, triggering the liquidation of $762 million in positions across 168,336 traders, with $593 million of these being short positions, according to data from CoinGlass. However, by Saturday evening, bitcoin had retreated to $76,091, representing a daily gain of just 0.8%, 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 tanker owners, with one supertanker reporting gunfire and subsequently aborting its transit. In response to a US blockade of Iranian shipping, the state news agency Nour stated that the strait had returned to 'strict management and control by the armed forces'. Several oil tankers that had approached the strait following the initial reopening news turned back. The breakout rally on Friday ultimately resulted in a $590 million rout for short positions, with $381 million of this attributed to bitcoin and $167 million to ether. The ratio of shorts to longs was nearly four to one, representing the most pronounced short-heavy breakdown in a liquidation event since February. The setup for this event had been building over several 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 rally was the initial reopening of the Hormuz Strait, which led to a 10% drop in crude oil prices to $85.90 per barrel and pushed bitcoin above the $76,000-$78,000 resistance zone that had capped every rally attempt since the February 5 crash. However, these gains 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 arrives before the breakout can consolidate, resulting in a forced unwind that sets up another challenge. In the retreat, ether held up better than bitcoin, declining by just 0.2% over 24 hours, while 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 has added 4.6%, and bitcoin sits at 4.5%. The key question now is whether the $76,000 level 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 the market. A loss of this level would see bitcoin return to the range it has been trapped in since March, albeit with the short base that was wiped out now looking to rebuild.