On Tuesday, Bitcoin briefly reached the $65,000 mark, despite the fact that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East entered a critical phase after the expiration of a 60-day memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran. However, prior to the sudden spike, Bitcoin was trading above the $64,000 level, having reclaimed it on Monday afternoon.
Market data shows it held above $64,200 until two hours before midnight, when selling pressure almost pushed the cryptocurrency below $64,000. This was followed by a period of volatility, during which Bitcoin fluctuated between $64,300 and $64,000 for nearly 10 hours. However, shortly after 9:30 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST), the cryptocurrency surged sharply, gaining roughly $1,000 in just one hour and reaching the $65,000 mark.
Although momentum slowed shortly after breaching this level, and at 2:35 PM EST the price dropped to $64,744, these price fluctuations resulted in the cryptocurrency ending the day with a daily gain of 0.5%, while the weekly gain exceeded 2%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin's market capitalization was approaching $1.3 trillion.
In the derivatives market, Bitcoin's latest rise again proved particularly devastating for traders who opened short positions on the cryptocurrency. According to Coinglass, Bitcoin's price fluctuations over the past 24 hours led to the liquidation of leveraged short positions worth $56 million, while liquidated long positions amounted to just $4 million. Overall, long positions still accounted for $108 million of the total liquidations recorded in the cryptocurrency market.
Although Bitcoin's gradual rise appears to have begun after Strategy reported it did not sell any bitcoins last week, some analysts warn that the concentration of sell orders around the $65,000 mark indicates a breakout is not imminent.
Offering a contrary view, Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci argued that the data tells a different story from the pessimistic headlines. Acknowledging that Bitcoin is clearly in a bear market, he noted that the current decline is much less sharp than those seen in previous cycles.
"This is clearly a Bitcoin bear market, and yet we've seen a drop of only 55%, whereas other bear markets have seen drops of 75-80%. Strangely enough, this is a good sign; it indicates that many net buyers are already positioning themselves for the next growth phase," Scaramucci wrote in an X post.
Supporting this view, blockchain analytics platform Glassnode noted that "strong hands" are actively buying Bitcoin. According to the company, the market bottom usually forms as profit-taking slows and conviction buyers enter the market, drawing parallels with the market structure observed in 2022. Glassnode emphasized that the greatest increase in the volume of Bitcoin held by conviction buyers occurred when the asset's price fell to $60,000 in January.
