Bitcoin loses grip near $80,000 as ETH, SOL, DOGE fade on profit-taking

Bitcoin traded at $77,794 on Thursday morning, up 0.4% over 24 hours but well off the $79,388 high hit Wednesday evening, with ether, XRP and Solana all closing red.

What to know:

• Bitcoin briefly touched $79,388 before easing back to about $77,800, standing out as the only major cryptocurrency in positive territory over the past 24 hours while leading weekly gains against mostly flat or weaker rivals.
• The rally’s concentration in bitcoin, alongside negative funding rates that have persisted for roughly 47 days, suggests a narrow, derivatives-skeptical bid rather than broad-based enthusiasm across digital assets.
• Geopolitical tensions, including a U.S. naval blockade near Iran, Iranian gunboat fire in the Strait and stalled cease-fire diplomacy, are feeding market uncertainty, with analysts warning that a drop below $76,000 could mark a near-term top unless sentiment or Iran talks improve.

Bitcoin BTC$77,953.02 has pulled back slightly after briefly approaching the $80,000 mark on Tuesday.

At the time of writing, it was trading at $77,794, still up 0.4% over the past 24 hours, after hitting a peak of $79,388 before gradually easing lower during the overnight session.

The 24-hour low of $77,464 was set Thursday morning, meaning the full range of the move was about $1,900. Ether (ETH) slipped 0.7% to $2,344, XRP (XRP) fell 1.7% to $1.42, solana (SOL) dropped 1.5% to $85.83, and BNB declined 0.6% to $635.

Brent crude held above $95 a barrel as the U.S. maintained its naval blockade on ships going to and from Iranian ports while Iran kept the Strait closed to almost all other international traffic. Iranian gunboats fired on commercial ships in the waterway on Wednesday.

Trump's April 7 ceasefire remains in place "indefinitely," but Vice President JD Vance's planned Tuesday trip to Islamabad was called off after Iran declined to send a delegation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has not set a firm deadline for an Iranian proposal.

The divergence in the top 10 backs the positioning read. Bitcoin is up 4% on the week, every other major is within 2% either direction, with ether and solana actually down.

When a rally concentrates in one asset while the rest of the complex fades, the source of the bid is usually narrow rather than broad.

Bitpanda CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad took the opposite view, arguing the overnight push toward $80,000 signals digital asset industry maturity and resilience backed by institutional participation and clearer regulatory frameworks.

That framing is harder to reconcile with a market where bitcoin is leading alone amid thin altcoin participation and where funding rates have been negative for roughly 47 consecutive days, one of the longest stretches of bearish derivatives positioning on record.

A slide below $76,000 would mean the $79,388 high printed the top for this leg, and the next move requires either genuine Iran progress or a shift in the funding rate picture that pulls real capital back in.

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