Leading cryptocurrencies declined alongside major stock indexes on Tuesday as Middle East tensions escalated following U.S. military action against Iran.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 1.68% to $61,757.98, revisiting the $60,000 floor before recovering overnight as trading activity climbed 12% in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) dropped 1.83% to $1,641.98, pulling back toward the $1,600 region, while XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) slid 1.71% to $1.13.
Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) declined 0.96% to $65.08, while Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) was nearly flat, slipping just 0.15% to $0.08487.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks also took heavy hits, with Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) closing down 8% and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BMNR) falling 3.86% on the session.
Over $420 million was liquidated from the market in the last 24 hours, with $324 million in long positions alone wiped out, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin’s open interest rose 1.23% during the same period, a signal that typically indicates new traders are aggressively shorting the asset and expecting further price declines.
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.13 trillion, contracting 1.25% over the last 24 hours, reflecting broad risk-off sentiment across digital asset markets.
President Donald Trump stated that negotiating parties are on the verge of finalizing a “very, very good deal” with Tehran, even as the U.S. military launched what it described as “proportional” strikes against Iran following the alleged downing of an Army Apache helicopter by Iranian forces.
Major equity indexes also retreated, with the S&P 500 falling 0.26% to close at 7,386.65 and the Nasdaq Composite dropping 0.97% to close at 25,678.82, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend, gaining 86.10 points, or 0.17%, to finish at 50,872.11.
Widely followed cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe identified Bitcoin consolidating below $65,000, with a clean breakout above that level potentially driving a strong move higher.
“I don’t think it will take long before the markets will be doing this, as the recent selloff was relatively irrational,” Van de Poppe said, pointing to $72,000-$74,000 as the likely target on a breakout.
Van de Poppe described $65,000 as a key resistance level, noting it previously served as support following the sharp market crash in early February before flipping to the current barrier.
On-chain analytics firm Santiment reported that Ethereum’s positive-to-negative social commentary ratio hit one of 2026’s lowest levels, placing the asset in what the firm called an “extreme fear” zone.
“Historically, Ethereum has tended to rebound when social sentiment reaches extreme FUD levels because prices frequently move opposite to the crowd’s expectations,” Santiment noted, suggesting a potential recovery may be forming.
Among the few bright spots in Tuesday’s session, smaller tokens posted sharp gains, with Humanity surging 96.30% to $0.1923 and Bitway climbing 93.78% to $0.1144, while Stargate Finance rose 40.89% to $0.3704.
