Leading cryptocurrencies traded largely flat on Wednesday while U.S. military strikes against Iran rattled investor confidence and pushed stocks sharply lower.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) edged up just 0.28% to $61,916.15, after briefly spiking to an intraday high of $62,788 before encountering stiff resistance.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) slipped 0.48% to $1,632.51, drifting within the $1,600 range with little directional conviction from traders.
XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) both declined, falling 2.52% to $1.10 and 1.44% to $0.08363, respectively, as risk appetite deteriorated.
Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) also dropped 1.53% to $64, contributing to a broader pullback that left the global cryptocurrency market capitalization at $2.12 trillion, down 0.33% from the prior day.
Cryptocurrency-related equities were not spared, with Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) falling 1.43% and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BMNR) closing down 3.46%.
Over $400 million was liquidated from the crypto market in the last 24 hours, with long position traders absorbing the majority of losses, according to Coinglass data.
Sentiment readings reflected the turbulent conditions, with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index registering “Extreme Fear” across the market.
The geopolitical backdrop worsened significantly after U.S. Central Command announced it had launched strikes against “multiple targets” in Iran in response to what it described as Tehran’s “unwarranted and continued aggression.”
President Trump said earlier in the day that Iran “took too long” to negotiate a deal and will have to “pay the price,” adding further uncertainty to already fragile financial markets.
Wall Street bore the full weight of the escalation, with the S&P 500 falling 1.62% to 7,266.99, the Nasdaq Composite sliding 1.98% to 25,169.50, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 953.33 points, or 1.87%, to close at 49,918.78.
Widely followed cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe said he saw “no clear decision” on Bitcoin’s path and warned that the market could revisit recent lows in the coming days to sweep liquidity.
“There’s not a ton of strength, and there’s no reason for it, so you clearly need to look at the technical side of things and those aren’t bullish until $64,000 breaks,” van de Poppe stated.
On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant added further caution, noting that Bitcoin’s realized losses have not yet reached the levels historically associated with market capitulation.
CryptoQuant highlighted that sellers realized 187,000 BTC of losses over the last month, a figure that falls well short of the 1.2 million BTC recorded at the November 2022 cycle bottom.
The firm noted that 400,000 BTC in realized losses were recorded during the panic selling episode in February, again dwarfing the current figure and suggesting sellers are not yet exhausted.
“The bottom may be near in terms of price level, but a regime change into a bull market requires a constructive demand recovery, a condition not yet visible in the data,” CryptoQuant added.
Bitcoin’s open interest rose marginally by 0.84% over the last 24 hours, while retail and whale derivatives traders with open BTC positions continued to hold net long exposure to the asset.
Among the session’s top performers, Velvet (VELVET) surged 123.97% to $0.8940, Audiera (BEAT) gained 49.55% to $7.12, and Magma Finance (MAGMA) rose 44.27% to $0.5399, all within tokens carrying market capitalizations above $100 million.
