Middle East tension causes massive crypto market shakeup, $489 million liquidated News ▸ Iran · Israel · Middle East ▸ Bitcoin ▸ Derivatives
Middle East tension causes massive crypto market shakeup, $489 million liquidated
Crypto long positions endure cascading liquidations for the past 24 hours as Iran launches an air strike against Israel.
2 min read
Updated: Oct. 1, 2024 at 6:57 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Bitcoin (BTC) crashed in tandem with stock markets on Oct. 1 as tensions continued to escalate in the Middle East after Israel announced ground operations in Lebanon, which has prompted Iran to take action.
The official account of Israel Defense Forces on X shared at 4:36 P.M. UTC that Iran was firing rockets at Israeli territory. Additionally, reports claim that Iran is likely to send a second wave of missiles targeting Israel in the ensuing hours.
As a result, over $489 million was liquidated over the past 24 hours, with the majority of liquidations — $312 million — occurring within the past four hours, according to Coinglass data.
Long liquidations accounted for $416.6 million of the total, while short liquidations amounted to roughly $73 million.
According to CryptoSlate data, BTC was trading at $61,598 as of press time, down 3% over the past day.
Altcoins see heavier losses
Major altcoins displayed heavier corrections following the news. Ethereum (ETH) was down 4.31% as of press time and trading at $2,490, while Solana (SOL) was down over 5.51% and trading at $146.8.
Toncoin (TON) and Dogecoin (DOGE) registered the worst performance, tumbling 6.2% and 7.3%, respectively, to $5.33 and $0.1063.
The Fear and Greed Index — which measures crypto investors’ sentiment daily — fell from the greed zone at 61 points to the neutral area at 50 points in 24 hours.
Gold, dollar surge
The US equities market also registered losses today, with the S&P 500 (SPX) shrinking 1.1% and the Nasdaq Index pulling back 1.85%. Nvidia (NVDA) stocks are down 4%, and Apple (AAPL) shares fell 3.6%.
Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index is up 0.6%, followed by a 1.1% leap registered by the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU).
Jeroen Blokland, founder of the Blokland Smart Multi-Asset Fund, stated on X that investors are “literally selling” BTC to buy gold amid the intensification of the conflict. However, he added that Bitcoin’s average return as a hedge against geopolitical events has proven to be a good decision since 2020.
Citing a BlackRock report, Blokland highlighted that BTC outpaced the 60-day returns of SPX and gold during the US-Iran conflict and Covid outbreak in 2020, the deflagration of war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, and the US banking crisis in 2023.
Bitcoin Market Data
At the time of press 6:57 pm UTC on Oct. 1, 2024, Bitcoin is ranked #1 by market cap and the price is down 2.44% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion with a 24-hour trading volume of $43.81 billion. Learn more about Bitcoin ›
Crypto Market Summary
At the time of press 6:57 pm UTC on Oct. 1, 2024, the total crypto market is valued at at $2.17 trillion with a 24-hour volume of $102.79 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 56.46%. Learn more about the crypto market ›
Mentioned in this article
Posted In: Bitcoin, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Crypto, Derivatives, Featured, Macro, Market, Price Watch
Author 
Gino Matos
Gino Matos is a law school graduate and a seasoned journalist with six years of experience in the crypto industry. His expertise primarily focuses on the Brazilian blockchain ecosystem and developments in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Editor Editor 
Assad Jafri
AJ, a passionate journalist since Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring, has honed his skills worldwide for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on crypto reporting.
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Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Ethereum
$2,458.55
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Solana
$145.021
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that utilizes a unique consensus algorithm called “Proof of History” to achieve fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Dogecoin
$0.10642
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in December 2013 as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
Telegram Open Network
Launched in 2018, this cryptocurrency is based on multi-blockchain Proof-of-Stake system – TON (Telegram Open Network, after 2021 The Open Network) – designed to host a new generation of cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications.
Nvidia
Nvidia Corporation is a multinational technology company based in Santa Clara, California, that was founded in Delaware.
Apple
Apple is a multinational American technology company with its main office in Cupertino, California.
