Bitcoin quickly drops 3.5% as fresh Iran escalation short circuits crypto rally

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Bitcoin quickly drops 3.5% as fresh Iran escalation short circuits crypto rally Surging to a near one-month high of $74,000, bitcoin reversed back to just above $71,000 as news of U.S. military movements in the Middle East rattled risk assets. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher Mar 13, 2026, 4:30 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Bitcoin (BTC) price on March 13 (CoinDesk) What to know : Fresh news about escalating military action in the Middle East put an end to bitcoin's rally to $74,000. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes also turned early morning gains into losses, with oil climbing more than $4 per barrel from its lowest levels of the day. The crypto rally ran into a wall on Friday as fresh headlines of potential escalation in the Iran conflict abruptly cooled risk appetite across markets. Among the developments, the U.S. Central Command confirmed that all six crew members aboard a refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq on Thursday had died. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is deploying a Marine expeditionary unit (thought to be 2,500 troops) to the Middle East, including forces attached to the USS Tripoli, as Iran steps up attacks around the Strait of Hormuz. Bitcoin, after rallying to near $74,000 earlier in the session, reversed sharply to $71,200 following the news, still holding onto 1.9% gain over the past 24 hours. Ethereum's ether (ETH), Solana's SOL (SOL) and DOGE $ 0.09784 were 3% higher during the same period, though also retreating from their session highs. U.S. equities surrendered early gains, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq flipping to 0.4%-0.5% declines. Gold, which often benefits from geopolitical turmoil, extended its recent pullback by another 1%, Oil, on the other hand, climbed more than $5 per barrel from its lowest levels of the day, now higher by nearly 2% for the session at $97.30. "Optimism over geopolitical events, including Russian sanction relief, has been a driver" behind the price action, said Paul Howard, director at trading firm Wincent. "These headlines tend to have a short half-life, so [we] would expect this to be short-lived till we see concrete follow-up action." Crypto-linked equities continue to be mostly posting gains for the day. Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital (MARA) led the advance with a 10% jump, while Galaxy Digital (GLXY), Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine (BMNR) and AI data-center focused miner Cipher Mining (CIFR) all climbed 5%-7%. Market Wrap Bitcoin News Iran Breaking News top news More For You One mysterious investor made $2.5 million profit in hours by betting big on the latest Trump gala news By Oliver Knight | Edited by Sheldon Reback 14 minutes ago A dormant crypto whale just bet $7 million on the Trump memecoin after a new Mar-a-Lago gala was announced, sparking a 60% rally for the struggling token. What to know : After five months of total silence, a dormant crypto wallet suddenly bought roughly 2.2 million TRUMP tokens on Thursday, signaling a massive vote of confidence from a major investor. The token’s 60% price spike followed the announcement of an April 25 gala and luncheon at Trump’s Florida estate, an exclusive event open only to the top 297 token holders. While the news sparked a major daily rally, the token is still down roughly 96% from its January 2025 peak of $74, illustrating the extreme risks of the memecoin market. Read full story Latest Crypto News One mysterious investor made $2.5 million profit in hours by betting big on the latest Trump gala news 14 minutes ago MoonPay introduces Ledger-secured AI crypto agents to address wallet key risks 31 minutes ago Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role, core principles 43 minutes ago Stablecoins, bitcoin could reshape finance, Stanley Druckenmiller says 1 hour ago Circle's USDC volumes top Tether's USDT for first time since 2019, prompting sell-side price target hike 1 hour ago Bitcoin rises to one-month high of $73,800, continuing to outperform since start of Iran war 2 hours ago Top Stories Bitcoin's building steam and a $3 billion trigger could make it wild 5 hours ago SEC's advisory group backs tokenized securities push, outlines how to keep it safe 18 hours ago Bitcoin's recent crash to $60,000 warned stocks first – now they're following 9 hours ago Pi rallies more than 30% after Kraken announces listing 11 hours ago U.S. sanctions 6 people, 2 companies that laundered $800 million in crypto for North Korea 2 hours ago BlackRock’s new ether ETF for yield hungry investors debuts with $15 million in trading volume 10 hours ago In this article DOGE DOGE $ 0.09784 ◢ 3.37 %