Bitcoin Slumps: Trump’s Iran Pause Leaves Crypto Investor Panic!

<a href="https://jpykr.com/btc-usd/">Bitcoin</a> slides below $68,500 as Trump extends Iran deadline but war risks persistMarkets

What to know:

Bitcoin slid about 3% to roughly $68,500 as another cycle of mixed Iran war headlines whipsawed markets for the fifth straight week.
Major cryptocurrencies broadly declined alongside Asian equities, though Tron bucked the trend, while the overall crypto market cap still hovers above its 50-day moving average, which some analysts view as a bullish sign.
Despite the price weakness, bitcoin ETFs have seen about $2.5 billion in net inflows over the past month, with BlackRock reporting that institutional investors are concentrating in bitcoin and ether ahead of an early April deadline on Iran-related developments.

Bitcoin’s price dropped to $68,507 on Friday morning. Over the last 24 hours, it fell 3.2%, and it’s down 2.7% for the week. This price movement follows a pattern seen for the past five weeks: initial news of easing tensions is quickly followed by news of escalating tensions.

As a researcher following the situation, I observed a brief moment of optimism when President Trump extended the deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire by ten days, and initially, talks seemed to be progressing well. This led to a slight dip in Brent crude prices, down 1.3% to $106 a barrel. However, that positive momentum quickly disappeared when the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was considering sending up to 10,000 more troops to the Middle East – any hope for de-escalation was immediately lost.

The overall cryptocurrency market lost almost 1% of its value, bringing the total market capitalization to $2.4 trillion. Ether experienced a significant drop of 4.6%, falling to $2,050 – a price point it has been struggling to stay above for the past month. Solana also saw a decline, dropping 5.3% to $85.93. XRP decreased by 2.8% to $1.36, putting it down 6.5% for the week. BNB and Dogecoin both lost ground, decreasing by 2.3% to $626 and 2.8% to $0.091, respectively. Tron was the only major cryptocurrency to increase in value, rising 1.2% daily and 2.4% over the week.

Asian stock markets declined by 0.6% on Friday, following a downturn on Wall Street the previous day which saw US markets reach their lowest point since September. South Korean technology stocks were the biggest losers, with Samsung and SK Hynix causing a 2.3% drop in the KOSPI index. Taiwan’s market also fell, dropping 1.2%. The ongoing conflict continues to create a volatile trading environment, with prices fluctuating wildly based on news headlines, but without establishing a clear long-term trend.

According to FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich, the total value of the cryptocurrency market is nearing its 50-day average, but remains slightly above it – a positive indicator, he says.

The market “must make an early decision,” he said, “either break through the uptrend line from early February or confirm the 50-day MA as support and break the downtrend.”

The institutional data beneath the price action tells a different story from the daily selloff.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen a surge in popularity, bringing in $2.5 billion in the last month, according to Bloomberg. This influx of money has almost reversed the outflows that began in January. BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF is performing exceptionally well, ranking among the top 2% of all ETFs in terms of money coming in this year. Last month also showed a change in investor behavior, with more people buying and holding bitcoin themselves, as evidenced by a decrease in bitcoin leaving exchanges.

This week, BlackRock pointed out a key trend: big investors are primarily focusing on Bitcoin and Ethereum, and largely avoiding other cryptocurrencies.

The 10-day extension on the Iran deadline pushes the next binary event to early April.

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