Bearish bets lose $430 million as BTC, ETH surge as much as 7%

The six-week range that capped every rally at $73,000 finally broke on Monday as stocks erased all Iran war losses and Trump signaled willingness to resume peace talks.

What to know:

• Bitcoin broke through the closely watched $73,000 ceiling to hit $74,484, its highest level since before the Iran war began, after President Trump signaled openness to renewed talks with Tehran.
• The surge triggered about $534 million in crypto liquidations, mostly from short positions, as ether and other major tokens outperformed and every top-10 asset posted daily and weekly gains.
• While risk assets rallied and oil and Treasury yields eased, traders see bitcoin’s next key resistance near $79,000, even as geopolitical risks persist with a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and an Iran cease-fire set to expire next week.

The $73,000 ceiling that rejected bitcoin three times in eight days just broke.

Bitcoin surged 4.8% to $74,484 late on Monday, its highest price since before the Iran war began in late February, after President Trump signaled a willingness to resume talks with Tehran even as the U.S. blockaded the Strait of Hormuz.

The move triggered $534 million in crypto liquidations across 180,000 traders, with $430 million coming from shorts, the second major squeeze in less than a week.

Ether led the majors with a 7.7% jump to $2,366, now up 12.4% on the week and outperforming bitcoin by a wide margin. Solana's SOL climbed 4.6% to $85.80, up 7.6% weekly. BNB gained 3.3% to $615.80. XRP rose 2.9% to $1.36. Dogecoin added 2.7% to $0.094. Every asset in the top 10 is green on both the daily and weekly chart.

The largest single liquidation was a $12.4 million BTC-USDT short on Aster. Bitcoin accounted for $229 million in total liquidations and ether followed at $136 million. Smaller token RAVE added $43 million in liquidations as prices surged 66%, and Solana contributed $12 million.

The S&P 500 has now erased all losses triggered by the Iran conflict, with the MSCI All Country World Index heading for its eighth consecutive day of gains, the longest winning streak since September.

Brent crude fell 1.3% to $98 as markets priced in the possibility that fresh talks could happen before the April 7 ceasefire expires next week. Treasury yields fell one basis point to 4.28% as cheaper oil eased inflation concerns.

The 12-hour liquidation window was where the damage concentrated, with $379 million wiped out in that period, of which $327 million were from shorts. The ratio of short to long liquidations at roughly 4-to-1 over 12 hours reflects just how heavily the market was still positioned for failure at $73,000, even after last week's ceasefire bounce had already punished that trade once.

For bitcoin specifically, the break above $73,000 puts the next resistance at the Traders' Realized Price near $79,000, the level that analysis firm CryptoQuant identified as the point where active traders who bought during the drawdown return to breakeven and tend to sell.

Between here and there, the path has less technical resistance than at any point since the war began.

The risk remains the same, however. Trump ordered the Hormuz blockade after weekend talks in Islamabad produced no deal. The ceasefire expires next week. But the U.S. and Iran are discussing another round of talks, and the blockade itself is being read by markets as a targeted pressure tool rather than an escalation, one designed to curb Iran's oil revenues while paving the way for eventual shipping resumption.

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