US strikes on Iran trigger $370M liquidations

TLDR

US airstrikes on Iran triggered a risk?off move across markets and a sharp flush in leveraged crypto positions.

1. Bitcoin briefly dropped toward 76,000 dollars and majors sold off, with reports of roughly 300 to 400 million dollars in 24 hour crypto liquidations, mostly longs.
2. The shock came via macro channels, as oil spiked above 90 dollars, bond yields jumped, and traders repriced interest rate risk, pressuring speculative assets like crypto.
3. The overall crypto market cap and open interest remain elevated, so the key watchpoints are further Middle East escalation, bond yields, and whether leverage gets rebuilt quickly.

Deep Dive

1. What Happened To Crypto

Multiple outlets report that renewed U.S. strikes on Iranian Revolutionary Guard targets near the Strait of Hormuz were followed by a fast crypto selloff. Bitcoin (BTC) slid from near 79,000 dollars to around 76,000 to 77,000 dollars, with Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, TRON (TRX) and others posting 2 to 4 percent losses in a single session.[](https://crypto.news/bitcoin-price-tumbles-us-strikes-rattle-global-markets/)

Derivatives data cited by Coinglass shows about 91 million dollars of BTC long liquidations and roughly 276 million dollars of long positions out of 356 million dollars total liquidations across crypto in 24 hours, consistent with hundreds of millions flushed as longs were force?closed.[](https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-price-resists-76k-dip-as-analyst-flags-next-buy-zone-at-74k) Different datasets and time windows put the total in the mid?hundreds of millions, which makes a 370 million dollar headline figure directionally accurate.

2. How USIran Tensions Trigger Liquidations

The main transmission is macro, not crypto native. U.S. strikes and Iranian retaliation pushed Brent crude above about 95 dollars per barrel, raising fears of disrupted flows through the Strait of Hormuz and higher energy prices.[](https://crypto.news/bitcoin-price-tumbles-us-strikes-rattle-global-markets/)

Higher oil has fed inflation worries and driven global bond yields to multi?year highs. The U.S. 10?year yield has pushed toward the upper end of its recent range, and Asian and European yields have followed, contributing to equity selloffs and a stronger dollar.[](https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/asian-markets-tumble-as-usiran-fighting-lifts-oil-and-bond-yields-4885230) In this environment, leveraged, high beta assets like crypto are often de?risked aggressively, so when BTC broke short?term support, long futures and perpetual positions were quickly liquidated.

3. Why This May Not Be Over

Despite the flush, total crypto market cap is roughly flat over 24 hours and derivatives open interest is still high, with perpetuals open interest up around low single digits percentage over the day. This suggests leverage has been reduced but not washed out completely.

Newsflow indicates both Washington and Tehran signal they want to avoid full escalation, yet both have threatened further strikes.[](https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-price-resists-76k-dip-as-analyst-flags-next-buy-zone-at-74k) At the same time, traders are watching upcoming U.S. jobs data and the next Federal Reserve decision, since higher yields plus war risk is a difficult backdrop for speculative assets.

Conclusion

US strikes on Iran have combined with already rising oil and bond yields to produce a classic macro shock, pressuring risk assets and triggering hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto liquidations. The move looks more like a leverage shakeout within an ongoing bull regime than a structural breakdown, but with war risk and rate uncertainty elevated, future shocks could cause further forced unwinds if traders rebuild aggressive long leverage too quickly.