A significant short squeeze occurred within a single trading session in 2026.
Late Friday, Bitcoin surged to $78,000, resulting in $762 million in liquidations for 168,336 traders. Of this, $593 million involved short positions, according to CoinGlass data.
By Saturday evening in Asia, the price had receded to $76,091, marking a modest 0.8% increase for the day. This came after Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic less than 24 hours following its foreign minister’s statement that it was fully open.
Reports from two tanker owners to Bloomberg indicated they received Iranian radio communications ordering the closure, with one supertanker experiencing gunfire and halting its journey. The state news agency Nour stated that Hormuz had been placed under “strict management and control by the armed forces” in response to a U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping. Several oil tankers heading towards the strait after Friday’s reopening news reversed course.
The $590 million liquidation of short positions marked the largest such event since February, with Bitcoin-related shorts accounting for $381 million. Ethereum followed at $167 in liquidations. Shorts outnumbered longs by nearly four to one during this period, making it a distinctly short-heavy liquidation occurrence.
This setup had been developing over weeks, evidenced by negative funding rates on Bitcoin perpetuals, indicating that short traders were paying premiums to long holders to maintain their positions.
The reopening of Hormuz served as the trigger for Friday’s rally. Following the announcement, crude oil prices dropped nearly 10% to $85.90 per barrel, and Bitcoin breached the $76,000-$78,000 range which had previously capped its rallies since February 5. Later that night, President Donald Trump informed reporters that Iran agreed to an “unlimited” suspension of its nuclear program, although Tehran did not confirm this.
By Saturday morning, none of these developments had held up. The market pattern saw ceasefire news sparking rallies, but reversal news arriving before consolidation could occur, setting the stage for another forced unwind.
Ether fared better than Bitcoin during the retreat, decreasing by just 0.2% over 24 hours, while Solana dropped 1.3%, and Dogecoin declined by 2.1%. On a weekly basis, Ether remains up 5.2%, XRP leads at 6.4%, BNB increased by 4.6%, and Bitcoin is up 4.5%.
The key question now is whether the $76,000 level will hold into Monday’s market opening. A close above this threshold on a weekly basis would maintain the structural break despite ongoing volatility in the peace trade.
Should Bitcoin lose this support level, it would revert to the range it has been confined within since March, with the recently depleted short base looking to rebuild.