Bitcoin Falls Below $73,000 for First Time in Months as US-Iran Conflict Sparks Long Liquidations

Bitcoin fell below $73,000 as escalating military clashes between the US and Iran weighed on crypto markets.

CoinDesk reported on May 28 that Bitcoin dropped as low as $72,912 during trading, slipping below $73,000 for the first time in months. It was recently trading around $73,030 on Binance's USDT market, down 3.4% from a day earlier.

Ether fell 4.2% to $1,976, dropping below $2,000 for the first time in about two months. Solana declined 3.5% to $80.57, while XRP fell 3.6% to $1.28.

The market selloff also triggered heavy liquidations. CoinGlass data showed that $958.8 million in positions was liquidated over the past 24 hours. Long positions made up about $897 million of the total.

Bitcoin liquidations totaled $386 million, while Ether liquidations reached $246 million. The largest single liquidation was a $15.34 million Bitcoin position on Hyperliquid.

The latest drop was directly triggered by a US strike on Iran. US Central Command said it recently struck Iranian military facilities near the Strait of Hormuz and shot down four Iranian drones launched toward commercial vessels.

The US Treasury Department also announced additional sanctions on Iranian entities related to control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later claimed it had struck the US air base involved in the attack.

CoinDesk said expectations for a ceasefire that had persisted until recently weakened quickly after the strike. It said Bitcoin had held support at $74,000 despite outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, but once that floor gave way, leveraged long positions were liquidated all at once.