The crypto market remained under pressure on Friday after Israel said it launched a pre-emptive strike on Iran, adding a fresh geopolitical shock to already fragile risk sentiment across global markets. The escalation pushed investors toward traditional defensive assets and away from higher-beta trades such as cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP are down
Hourly price action gathered from CoinMarketCap data showed Bitcoin down 3.31% in the last hour against the dollar, while Ethereum was down 3.00% in the last hour. Solana also dropped 4.00%, while XRP is down 2.51% at the time of writing.
The hourly declines in BTC, ETH, and other altcoins indicate that traders are responding quickly to the worsening geopolitical backdrop rather than only digesting older macro concerns.
$500 Million Liquidated
At the broader market level, CoinGlass said around 151,935 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching roughly $502.11 million. That makes the current decline look less like orderly profit-taking and more like a leverage flush driven by a sudden deterioration in macro and geopolitical confidence.
Moreover, CoinGlass data showed Bitcoin trading near $63,585, down about 6.05% over 24 hours, with roughly $192.4 million in BTC futures liquidations and open interest at around $43.4 billion. Spot volume stood near $7.02 billion, while futures volume surged to roughly $68.27 billion, suggesting the sell-off was being amplified in derivatives markets rather than driven by spot alone.
Ethereum also saw heavy deleveraging. CoinGlass showed ETH trading around $1,866, down roughly 5.53% in 24 hours, with about $149.14 million in futures liquidations and open interest near $23.6 billion. Ethereum’s spot volume was about $3.59 billion, compared with more than $51.8 billion in futures volume, reinforcing that leverage remained a major driver of the move.
Among large-cap altcoins, XRP and Solana also reflected clear stress. CoinGlass data showed XRP spot volume at about $1.16 billion against futures volume of roughly $4.46 billion, with around $11.78 million in liquidations and open interest near $2.14 billion. Solana, meanwhile, recorded about $914.4 million in spot volume versus $11.7 billion in futures volume, with nearly $27.93 million in liquidations and open interest around $4.78 billion.
Analysts called the ‘perfect storm’
In its February 23 market note, QCP said Bitcoin’s break below $65,000 came amid a “perfect storm” of renewed tariff pressure and a potential U.S.-Iran conflict, with roughly $230 million in long liquidations during the move. That read-through remains relevant now that Israel has struck Iran directly: geopolitical stress is acting as an accelerant on a market that was already vulnerable to macro shocks.
The latest derivatives readings also weaken the idea that Bitcoin is behaving like a near-term war hedge. Instead, the combination of falling prices, elevated futures turnover, and large liquidation totals suggests traders are treating crypto more like a liquidity-sensitive risk asset, at least in this phase of the conflict. As long as Iran-Israel tensions remain elevated, crypto may stay exposed to further downside, especially if oil rises further and broader market volatility intensifies.
The risk-off reaction was visible across both traditional and digital markets. Reuters reported that oil prices have added a geopolitical risk premium as traders weigh the possibility of supply disruption tied to Iran, while gold hovered near a one-month high on safe-haven demand. Barclays said Brent could reach $80 per barrel if tensions cause meaningful supply losses, underscoring why markets are reacting so sharply to the latest developments.
Also Read: Bitcoin Bottom or Just a Pause? Key Metrics Show Risk Still Elevated
