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Bitcoin and the broader crypto market moved lower after President Donald Trump said the Iran ceasefire had ended, following renewed military exchanges between the U.S. and Iran.
Digital assets faced selling pressure on Wednesday as rising geopolitical uncertainty pushed investors into a risk-off stance. The CoinDesk 20 Index declined 2.9% from the start of the UTC session, with nearly all of its components trading lower.
During remarks to NATO leaders, Trump said the ceasefire agreement with Iran was no longer valid and criticized further negotiations as unproductive, although reports suggested diplomatic discussions had not completely stopped.
The U.S. Central Command said American forces struck more than 60 small vessels operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to prevent threats to international shipping. Iran responded with attacks targeting locations in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The renewed conflict lifted the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) as traders assessed the potential impact on inflation. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the two largest cryptocurrencies, both dropped more than 2%.
Smaller altcoins suffered steeper declines due to thinner liquidity, with Jupiter (JUP), Ether.fi (ETHFI), and Pump (PUMP) each falling more than 5%.
The sell-off also extended into traditional markets, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures declining as much as 1.5%.
Futures positioning and market sentiment
Despite Bitcoin’s decline toward $62,000, the cryptocurrency remains roughly 6% higher for the month. A positive development came from derivatives markets, where traders have not significantly increased short positions against the recent recovery. Bitcoin futures open interest slipped to about 730,000 BTC from over 740,000 BTC a day earlier.
Ether faced a more challenging setup, with futures open interest remaining around 13.95 million tokens even as falling prices triggered approximately $90 million in liquidations. Bitcoin saw more than $100 million in liquidations over the same period.
Canton Network’s CC token continued its decline, reaching its lowest level since January while futures open interest climbed to a two-week peak. The combination of rising open interest, falling prices, and deeply negative funding rates near -20% suggests traders may be positioning for additional downside.
Broader market indicators also point to increasing bearish pressure across major cryptocurrencies. Negative open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) readings for Bitcoin and Ether suggest sellers are dominating through aggressive market orders rather than passive limit orders.
The recent decline has also increased demand for downside protection in the options market. Bitcoin and Ether’s 30-day implied volatility indexes, BVIV and EVIV, both moved higher for a second straight day.
Deribit options data showed one-week put skew increasing to nearly 20%, up from 16% previously, indicating traders are paying more for protection against further declines. The trend was visible across both Bitcoin and Ether options.
However, Bitcoin call options at the $80,000 strike recorded the highest volume over the past 24 hours, suggesting some traders continue to position for a potential rebound.
Altcoin market overview
Altcoins experienced heavier losses, with CoinGlass data showing around $350 million of the total $450 million in liquidations coming from altcoin positions.
Solana (SOL) erased its recent recovery, falling back toward $77 after briefly testing the $84 level earlier in the week.
MORPHO was one of the few tokens to move higher, gaining about 4% as the DeFi protocol’s total value locked reached a record 4 million ETH, according to DefiLlama.
Despite widespread weakness, some analysts noted that parts of the altcoin market are returning to oversold conditions. The average relative strength index (RSI) has dropped to 40 from 47 a day earlier, suggesting some tokens may be nearing levels where buyers could begin looking for opportunities.
