Crypto market recap: Bitcoin holds near $71,000 as Iran ceasefire falters

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Bitcoin holds near $71,000

Highlights

BTC is holding near $71,000 and is down about 1.1% over 24 hours, while ETH is trading near $2.18K and losing about 2.8%.
The Fear and Greed Index fell to 14 from 17 a day earlier, meaning sentiment worsened and remains in Extreme Fear territory.
Brent is back near $97, while the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, once again pressuring global risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $70,998, down about 1.1% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum stood at $2,181.48, losing about 2.8% on the day.

The Fear and Greed Index fell to 14 from 17 a day earlier, remaining in Extreme Fear territory and showing that sentiment worsened after a brief burst of optimism.

The сeasefire euphoria faded quickly

Just two days after the announcement of the two-week ceasefire, markets began to question how viable it really was: after a new wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz, and Asian markets slipped on Thursday. Brent rose to $96.91 a barrel, while U.S. crude WTI climbed to $97.54.

For cryptocurrencies, this acted as a direct signal to take profits. A day earlier, after the ceasefire announcement, Bitcoin had climbed to nearly $72,000 and Ethereum had gained more than 6%, but by the next day the market had shifted its focus from hopes of de-escalation to risks tied to energy supplies and a prolonged conflict. In this environment, digital assets are once again behaving like part of the broader risk-on complex rather than a defensive asset.

Hormuz remains the market bottleneck

Even a formal ceasefire has not yet restored normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. According to Reuters, vessel transit remains tightly controlled, major shippers and oil companies are in no rush to return, and traffic is still far below prewar levels. The strait has not fully reopened and remains in a supervised pause.

That helps explain why oil prices moved back up and, with them, pressure on risk assets increased again. If on Wednesday the market was buying the idea of a temporary reprieve, by Thursday it was already repricing the possibility of a longer period of expensive energy, inflation sensitivity, and caution from central banks. For Bitcoin and Ethereum, that means that even after a sharp rebound, the market has not yet left its headline-driven trading mode.

The market is once again being driven by external news

For the crypto market, this matters not only because of current prices, but because of the structure of the move itself. Bitcoin is still holding above $70,000, but the drop in the sentiment index to 14 shows that investors do not see yesterday’s rally as the start of a new sustainable trend.

As long as oil remains near $97 and Hormuz has not returned to normal operation, the market will respond first and foremost to news from the region rather than to internal crypto-specific factors.

In an earlier report, we noted that Bitcoin and Ethereum rally after U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

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