Bitcoin Plummets 3.3% to $103,556 Amid Israeli Iran Conflict

Bitcoin experienced a significant decline, dropping 3.3% to $103,556, marking its worst single-day performance since June. This downturn was triggered by Israeli airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, which led to a massive liquidation cascade in the cryptocurrency market. Over $1.16 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out within 24 hours, with long positions being the most affected, totaling $1.16 billion compared to just $113.97 million in short liquidations.

The selloff began in the early hours before the Israeli forces launched Operation Rising Lion, targeting key nuclear facilities in Iran. This unexpected geopolitical event sent shockwaves through global financial markets, causing Bitcoin to drop from a 24-hour high of $108,500 as investors fled risk assets amid escalating Middle East tensions. The liquidation data reveals the severity of the market panic, with the cascading effect intensifying throughout the day, starting with $20 million in liquidations within the first hour and exploding to nearly $1 billion over 12 hours.

The Israeli strikes, which began around 3:30 AM local time in Tehran, exposed the cryptocurrency market’s dangerous overleverage. The geopolitical war quickly morphed into a technical breakdown, with the speed and magnitude of the decline amplified by algorithmic trading systems treating crypto as a risk-off asset. This shift in sentiment in an already overleveraged market was further exacerbated by Iran’s immediate counterattack, launching approximately 100 drones toward Israel while declaring a state of emergency. This sustained the selling pressure across all major cryptocurrencies, indicating that the selloff was indiscriminate across the entire market rather than concentrated in Bitcoin alone.

Technical analysis reveals that the geopolitical development triggered technical breakdowns that had been building for weeks, suggesting the market was vulnerable to external catalysts. The hourly chart showed Bitcoin breaking decisively below critical support at $106,500, with three distinct rejection points in the supply zone between $109,500 and $110,500 indicating heavy institutional selling pressure. The bearish breakout pushed Bitcoin below the psychological $105,000 level, with the next major demand zone sitting around the round-number $100,000 target. The four-hour analysis also exposed a descending channel pattern constraining Bitcoin since its peak above $112,000. The recent break below the channel’s lower support line signaled an acceleration of the bearish trend.

The volume profile showed increased selling activity coinciding with the geopolitical news flow, while the resistance level around $112,000 now appears formidable for any recovery attempts. The technical structure suggests that rallies will likely be met with renewed selling pressure, with the channel breakdown targeting the $100,000-$102,000 demand zone. Most concerning was the Ichimoku rising wedge breakdown on the four-hour timeframe, which revealed Bitcoin trading below the cloud and indicated a shift from bullish to bearish momentum. Rising wedges represent diminishing buying pressure despite higher prices, and the breakdown typically leads to sharp declines with measured move targets around $96,000. This technical objective aligns with previous significant support levels and would represent approximately a 10% decline from current levels, suggesting further downside pressure if geopolitical tensions remain elevated or additional macro factors emerge to pressure risk assets.