Peace Out, Bears: Bitcoin Vaults to $72K as Iran Ceasefire Catches $427M in Shorts Looking Absolutely Foolish

Short sellers betting on continued war escalation got absolutely wrecked, losing $427 million in 24 hours as bitcoin vaulted past $72,000 on the ceasefire announcement.

Bitcoin surged to about $72,700 after former President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, abruptly reversing days of bearish positioning. The spike triggered roughly $595 million in crypto liquidations across 118,489 traders, with shorts making up about $427 million of that—marking the most aggressive short squeeze since early March.

Days of bearish positioning unraveled in about two hours on Tuesday night as bitcoin surged past $72,700 after Trump confirmed the ceasefire with Iran via Truth Social just before his 8 p.m. ET deadline.

Short positions accounted for $427 million versus $168 million in longs, a ratio of more than 2.5-to-1 that reflects just how heavily the market was positioned for further downside heading into the deadline. The largest single liquidation was an $11.79 million BTC-USDT short on Binance.

Bitcoin accounted for $245 million in total liquidations, ether followed at $126 million, and tokenized Brent oil futures on Hyperliquid added $33 million as crude collapsed more than 10%, with a further $42 million in WTI crude contracts.

Oil, which has been among the top liquidated crypto assets throughout the war, flipped to the other side of the trade as Brent dropped to roughly $99 and WTI fell to about $95.

The 12-hour window is where the real damage concentrated: $508 million of the $595 million total was liquidated in just 12 hours, with shorts taking $398 million of that. Solana added $19.6 million in liquidations, ZEC saw $13.4 million, and XRP contributed smaller amounts alongside a long tail of altcoins. Even tokenized silver and gold positions got caught in the unwind as the commodity complex repriced the removal of war premium.

The ceasefire itself is conditional. Trump called it a "double-sided ceasefire" and said the U.S. had "already met and exceeded all military objectives." Iran confirmed the suspension but hedged on the Strait of Hormuz, saying oil tankers could transit for two weeks "via coordination with Iran's armed forces and with due consideration to technical limitations."

For context on how extreme the positioning had become, the Fear and