Bitcoin Near $65K as $17M in Longs Liquidate, Trump Signals US-Iran Peace Deal

Crypto News

The crypto market absorbed another wave of forced selling over the past 24 hours, with roughly $17.04 million in leveraged positions wiped out across major venues. Long positions accounted for the bulk of the damage at about $13.19 million, or 77.4% of the total, while shorts made up $3.85 million. Bitcoin-linked contracts saw the heaviest liquidations, followed by Ethereum and Solana. Binance led exchange activity with $8.52 million in closed positions, ahead of Bybit and OKX. Derivatives data show the lopsided ratio underscores how aggressively traders had positioned for upside, leaving the market exposed when momentum stalled and pushing it deeper into bear-market conditions.

Geopolitics added another layer of uncertainty as President Donald Trump publicly criticized an Israeli airstrike on southern Beirut, saying it should not have happened while Washington and Tehran edge toward a peace agreement. Trump described a US-Iran deal as very close, with mediator Pakistan flagging a possible signing as early as June 15. Draft terms reportedly include releasing about $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets and easing oil-export sanctions in exchange for Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and pausing nuclear development. For risk assets, the normalization of energy flows is viewed as a pivotal variable for oil prices and broader market volatility.

A timely reminder on market psychology also circulated, built around the Wall Street adage that even a dead cat will bounce if dropped from high enough. The so-called dead cat bounce describes a temporary rally within a sustained downtrend, where a sharp technical rebound tricks investors into believing a bottom has formed. More often the move is a retracement rather than a genuine trend reversal, and a deeper decline follows. Distinguishing the two is difficult, but volume confirmation and time spent above key levels help. The lesson resonates now, with traders urged to verify reversals on the candlestick chart before chasing rebounds.

Macro stress signals are mounting beyond crypto. In South Korea, loans tied to self-employed borrowers in default jumped sharply, with debt held by delinquent business owners rising 7.7% to 37.8 trillion won even as the number of defaulters fell. The strain is concentrated among those aged 60 and over, whose non-performing balances surged 19.5%. Three-year government bond yields climbed from 2.953% to 3.940%, while April retail sales fell 3.6%, the steepest drop since early 2024. Rising rates colliding with weak domestic demand illustrate the kind of tightening financial conditions that historically pressure risk appetite across both traditional and digital-asset markets.

In equities, biotech firm Incyte reported that adding tafasitamab and lenalidomide to the standard R-CHOP regimen cut the risk of disease progression or death by 25% in a Phase 3 trial for high-risk lymphoma. The frontMIND study enrolled 899 previously untreated patients, with two-year progression-free survival reaching 71.1% versus 62.9% for standard care. Published in The Lancet, the data positions the combination as a potential new first-line standard, and the company said it plans global regulatory filings. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma accounts for roughly 40% of adult non-Hodgkin cases, and about 40% of patients fail initial therapy, underscoring the unmet need.

Commodity exploration also drew attention as Canadian gold junior BTU Metals moved to acquire 100% of its Dixie East Block 3 project in Ontario’s Red Lake district, extending its exploration corridor to roughly 17 kilometers. The deal adds six claims adjacent to Kinross Gold’s Great Bear project, prized for geological continuity. Per the company’s disclosure, terms include $16,000 in cash, 800,000 shares and a 1.5% net smelter royalty, with a buyback option on half the royalty for $500,000. With gold retaining its haven appeal amid extreme fear, expanding exposure to proven structural corridors reflects how capital rotates toward hard assets when sentiment sours.

Taken together, these threads sketch a market bracing for convergence: forced liquidations, geopolitical flashpoints, tightening credit and a rotation toward hard assets all point to defensive positioning. COINOTAG’s aggregate data reinforces the caution — our Fear & Greed Index sits at 18 of 100, deep in Extreme Fear, while Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 70.4%, a classic sign of capital consolidating into the majors as altcoins bleed. Total crypto market capitalization stands near $1.85 trillion, and with Bitcoin trading around $65,000, derivatives data show leverage being flushed rather than rebuilt. Until a catalyst breaks the deadlock, the path of least resistance favors patience over conviction.