Bitcoin surged to $64,200 before pulling back to around $62,990 on Sunday, as escalating tensions between Israel and Iran sent shockwaves through global markets. The price swing came after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened diplomatically, only for Israel to defy his calls for restraint hours later.
The trigger was an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, breaching a fragile ceasefire in place since April. Iran responded with a salvo of ballistic missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directly at northern Israel. This drew immediate intervention from Washington: Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him to stand down, stating the U.S. was “close to doing something good in terms of a deal.”
Trump then told the Financial Times: “Netanyahu won’t have any choice but to accept whatever peace agreement Washington finalizes with Tehran. I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.” He added to reporters, “You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough – make a deal.”
Bitcoin rallied from $62,000 to an intraday high of $64,200 on those remarks. The move was driven by a massive short squeeze: CoinGlass data showed $467.14 million in short positions liquidated in 24 hours, 74% of total liquidations. The largest single liquidation was a $12.10 million BTC-USDT position on Binance.
However, hours later, Israel launched air-launched ballistic missiles into Iran, striking military radar systems in Tehran, Isfahan, and Tabriz, along with a major petrochemical facility in Mahshahr. Bitcoin quickly retraced to $62,990, a 1.9% drop from the spike high. Despite the defiance, Trump stated the new strikes would not derail the peace deal process, limiting further downside.
Bitcoin’s behavior suggests the market is now pricing diplomatic signals over direct military escalation. The RSI on the 1-hour chart remained neutral, indicating neither overbought conditions nor renewed selling pressure. Community sentiment data from CoinMarketCap showed 80% of 6.5 million voters still bullish on Bitcoin.
Broader markets felt the turmoil: oil prices jumped over 3% to $93.50, Asian stocks tumbled (South Korea’s KOSPI -6.8%, Japan’s Nikkei -3%), and the Nasdaq fell 4.2% on Friday. Bitcoin itself was already down 14% last week, pressured by ETF outflows and capital rotation into AI stocks. The weekend’s events added another layer of uncertainty, with upcoming U.S. inflation data and major IPOs likely to keep volatility high.
