Bitcoin Reclaims $80,000 as Iran Strikes Test the Rally

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<a href="https://bbg-news.com/btc-usd/">Bitcoin</a> Reclaims $80,000 as Iran Strikes Test the Rally

Bitcoin’s price recently increased, recovering almost 30% from its low of around $62,000 on February 5th. It also gained 5.5% over the past five days. Data from TradingView shows BTC quickly rose from $78,415, surpassing $80,000 within 75 minutes and reaching $80,515 by 4:20 a.m. UTC before decreasing slightly.

Bitcoin’s price recently increased after US Bitcoin ETFs saw $629.8 million in new investments on Friday – the largest single-day inflow in two weeks. Data from Farside Investors shows these ETFs have experienced positive investment flows on 11 out of the last 14 trading days. According to Brave New Coin, breaking above $80,000 is a key target for Bitcoin buyers. Successfully doing so would suggest the recent price gains are the start of a new upward trend, rather than a temporary peak.

Analysts quickly dismissed the idea that a specific reason was driving the recent price increase. Crypto analyst Matthew Hyland noted on X that traders who previously predicted a price of $60,000 likely wouldn’t become optimistic until the price reached $90,000 or higher. Michael van de Poppe, founder of MN Capital, agreed, stating that a compelling story wasn’t necessary to push prices up – the price increase itself would create the narrative.

The initial positive outlook faced an immediate challenge. News broke during trading that Iran had attacked an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates, causing the price of WTI crude oil to jump above $105 a barrel – a daily increase of over 5%. Brent crude also rose, nearing its highest price in three years. This news put pressure on US stocks, and Bitcoin’s price gains slowed, fluctuating around $80,000 for the remainder of trading in New York.

The next major resistance level is now higher up. Traders are particularly focused on the $84,000 level – a price gap created in early February when initial news about Iran caused Bitcoin’s price to drop. According to data from Coinglass, if Bitcoin breaks above $84,000, it could trigger over $2.85 billion in liquidations of leveraged short positions. This kind of event has historically caused prices to rise even further.

The Saylor Pause

As the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading, MicroStrategy, the biggest corporate owner of Bitcoin, temporarily paused its purchases. Michael Saylor, the company’s executive chairman, shared on X (formerly Twitter) that they didn’t buy any Bitcoin this week.

No buys this week. Back to work next week, source: X

The company is pausing activity before releasing its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday. Analysts predict a loss of $18.98 per share, compared to a loss of $16.49 during the same period last year, according to Yahoo Finance. This expected loss is due to the current value of the company’s Bitcoin holdings, not how well the business is doing overall. However, this creates a more complex financial situation for the company than it has faced since changing its name from MicroStrategy.

Strategy recently purchased more Bitcoin, as reported in a filing on April 27th, bringing their total holdings to 818,334 BTC. Their average purchase price is $75,537, which is currently profitable, though the profit margin is small considering Bitcoin’s price swings. As we previously noted when Strategy surpassed 815,000 BTC, the company has a sophisticated financial system that uses its stock, preferred shares, and strategies for managing price volatility to continually buy more Bitcoin, with the STRC perpetual preferred stock playing a key role in this process.

The new financial instrument is facing increased criticism. Peter Schiff, a well-known Bitcoin skeptic and chief economist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, recently claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that its 11.5% dividend structure resembles a Ponzi scheme, essentially betting that Bitcoin’s price will consistently rise above the dividend payout. A more cautious warning came from Seeking Alpha contributor Joseph Parrish, who pointed out on April 28th that the company’s current cash reserves wouldn’t cover two years of dividend payments, suggesting they’d need to issue more stock, which would reduce existing shareholders’ ownership if Bitcoin’s performance declines.

What’s Next

As a researcher, I’ve been tracking the recent market activity, and it looks like buying pressure is back. I noticed two significant spikes in buy volume on Binance yesterday – around $1.19 billion and then $792 million, within just a couple of hours. Historically, this kind of pattern suggests traders are jumping in to capitalize on the upward momentum rather than waiting for prices to potentially dip. Over the last 24 hours, we also saw around $452 million in liquidations across the crypto market, with the majority of those being short positions.

Several factors could significantly impact the crypto market. White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt hinted at a major announcement regarding President Trump’s potential Bitcoin reserve within the next few weeks, which some believe could be as important for the message it sends as for any actual Bitcoin purchases. Additionally, the Senate is expected to finalize and vote on the CLARITY Act this month, including a previously agreed-upon compromise regarding stablecoin yields.

The price of Bitcoin will likely either rise to $84,000 or fall back to $76,500, depending on how it closes each day and whether tensions with Iran continue to ease as currently expected. Michael Saylor is scheduled to speak at the Consensus conference in Miami Beach on Wednesday, and as he usually does, he’s expected to signal whether he’ll be buying more Bitcoin in a post on Sunday.

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2026-05-04 23:12