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

The cryptocurrency market experienced one of the largest short squeezes of 2026, with bitcoin reaching $78,000 on Friday before pulling back to $76,091 by Saturday evening. This reversal was triggered by Iran's announcement that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed to maritime traffic again, less than 24 hours after its foreign minister declared it fully open. The closure was reportedly in response to a US blockade of Iranian shipping, with several oil tankers turning back after initially attempting to transit the strait. The resulting market volatility led to a $590 million shorts rout, with bitcoin accounting for the largest share of liquidations at $381 million. The setup for this event had been building for weeks, with negative funding rates on bitcoin perpetuals indicating that shorts were paying longs a premium to hold their positions. Despite the initial rally, the market pattern has become familiar, with ceasefire headlines driving rallies that are subsequently reversed by contradictory headlines. The question now is whether the $76,000 zone will hold into Monday's open, with a clean weekly close above this level necessary to preserve the structural break.