The crypto market experienced a major crash on Friday due to a perfect storm of factors, including geopolitical tensions, macro events, renewed Trump tariffs, Friday’s options expiry, and liquidation of leveraged positions. Bitcoin price plummeted to an intraday low of $102K, dropping more than 7% in two days. Ethereum and XRP prices also took a hit, tumbling 10% and 7% over the last 24 hours.
Israel Airstrikes Iran as Tensions Escalate
The crypto market crash was triggered by Israel launching a preemptive strike against Iran, significantly heightening fears of broader conflict in the Middle East. The White House clarified that the US played no part in Israel’s decision to strike Iran.
Statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its…
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 13, 2025
Oil and gold prices rallied as tensions rose in the Middle East. JPMorgan warned that striking Iran could drive oil prices higher to $120 per barrel, pushing CPI inflation in the United States back to 5% from a recent 2.4% print.
Renewed Tariff Plans by President Donald Trump
Safe-haven demand for gold was further boosted by growing uncertainty over US trade policy. President Donald Trump plans to impose unilateral tariffs to pressure trading partners, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the current 90-day tariff pause could be extended.
The hype surrounding the latest trade tariff deal between the U.S. and China faded, resulting in uncertainty to continue in global markets. Meanwhile, President Trump continued to call for a 100 bps Fed rate cut, sparking discussions in the crypto market.
$3.7 Billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum Options Expiry
Over $3.7 billion in crypto options are set to expire on Deribit today. The crypto market often faces crash possibilities on options expiry due to high volatility. A mix of geopolitical and macro factors, supported by the options expiry, pushed traders to liquidate or change their positions.
28K BTC options with a notional value of more than $3 billion are set to expire on Friday on Deribit. At the time of writing, the put-call ratio was 0.95, suggesting a slightly bearish sentiment among traders. Notably, the max pain point is at $107,000, indicating a high chance of further retracement in BTC price.
In contrast, 242K ETH options with a notional value of almost $0.7 billion are set to expire, with a put-call ratio of 1.20. Also, the max pain point was $2,700 at the time of writing. Sentiment has turned bearish for Ethereum as evidenced by the put-call ratio and max pain data.
The crypto market turned extremely bullish on Ethereum price to surpass $3000, resulting in profit booking by some investors. The interest appeared to drop continuously, with traders having to monitor significant fluctuations in the trading volumes amid rising uncertainty.
Crypto Market Liquidation Crosses $1.2 Billion
Crypto liquidations crossed over $1.2 billion in the last 24 hours, with $930 million long positions liquidated within just 12 hours, as per CoinGlass data. Over 247K traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with the largest single liquidation order of BTCUSDT valued at $201.31 million on crypto exchange Binance.
Notably, more than $1.1 billion in long and $100 million in short positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, causing a crypto market crash. Bitcoin saw almost $445 million in liquidations, one of the highest ever recorded.
Whales Liquidate as BTC, ETH and XRP Break Below Key Support
BTC price has slightly rebounded from a 5% fall earlier, with the price currently trading at $104,358. The 24-hour low and high were $102,822 and $108,439, respectively. As warned earlier by The Coin Republic, Bitcoin price fall was expected due “bull trap” from high-leverage traders.
Whales liquidated their holdings as BTC lost the $106K key support level as well as the June open level. Massive liquidations worth millions were recorded by on-chain platforms.
3 hours ago, this whale 12d1e deposited 1k $BTC (~$106.06M) to #Binance.
3 years ago, he accumulated them at avg entry $18,665.
If sold all at current price, he will have realized profit ~$87.39M with ROI 468%.Just now, he still has 3k $BTC (~$310.9M) with unrealized profit…
— The Data Nerd (@OnchainDataNerd) June 13, 2025
ETH price also lost a key support level at $2,650. The price tumbled 10% in the last 24 hours, with a 24-hour low and high of $2,443 and $2,775, respectively.
Furthermore, XRP bulls also failed to hold the price above $2.20, despite a joint filing by Ripple and the US SEC to settle the lawsuit. XRP price is currently trading at $2.12, risking a fall below $2.
Read More
2025-06-13 08:40