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

One of the most significant short squeezes of 2026 occurred within a single trading session. Bitcoin surged to $78,000 late on Friday, triggering $762 million in liquidations across 168,336 traders, with $593 million of those losses coming from short positions, according to CoinGlass. By Saturday evening in Asia, bitcoin had retreated to $76,091, posting a mere 0.8% gain for the day, after Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, less than 24 hours after its foreign minister declared it fully open. This development led to two tanker owners receiving Iranian radio transmissions, with one supertanker reporting gunfire and canceling its transit. In response to a U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping, state news agency Nour stated that the Strait of Hormuz 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. Friday's rally 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, marking the most pronounced short-heavy breakdown in a liquidation event since February. The setup for this had been building over 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 rally was the initial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which led to a nearly 10% drop 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, this momentum was short-lived, as the market pattern has become all too familiar, with ceasefire headlines driving rallies, only to be followed by reversal headlines that prevent the breakout from consolidating. The forced unwind sets the stage for another setup to work against. Over the 24-hour period, ether held up relatively better than bitcoin, posting a 0.2% loss, 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 added 4.6%, and bitcoin sits 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 be volatile. 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.