Bitcoin drops below $69,200 as Trump gives 48-hour ultimatum on Iran power plants
BTC fell 2.2% as $299 million in liquidations hit crypto markets, with long positions accounting for 85% of the damage.
By Shaurya Malwa Mar 22, 2026, 6:00 a.m.
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What to know:
- Bitcoin erased last week’s rally, sliding to about $69,000 as President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants.
- The threat of attacks on civilian energy infrastructure jolted a heavily bullish crypto market, triggering about $299 million in liquidations over 24 hours, with roughly 85 percent hitting long positions.
- Major tokens fell in tandem, while traders now face a Monday deadline that could bring the first direct strikes on power systems in the conflict, overshadowing support from the Federal Reserve’s recent dovish stance on interest rates.
Bitcoin has given back last week's gains in a single weekend.
The largest cryptocurrency slid to $69,192 on Sunday morning, down 2.2% over the past 24 hours and 3.1% on the week, after U.S. president Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran late Saturday demanding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on the country's power plants.
Trump said he would "hit and obliterate" Iran's power plants, beginning with the largest, if the strait wasn't opened to commercial shipping.
The threat marks a dramatic escalation from Friday, when Trump said he was thinking about "winding down" the military operation. Going from winding down to threatening civilian infrastructure in 24 hours whipsawed a market that had spent the previous week building confidence around de-escalation.
The liquidation data shows how one-sided the positioning was heading into the weekend. CoinGlass data shows $299 million in total liquidations over the past 24 hours across 84,239 traders, with long liquidations accounting for $254 million, roughly 85% of the total.
Bitcoin longs took $122 million in damage. Ether longs lost $95.7 million. The largest single liquidation was a $10 million BTC-USDT swap on OKX. The lopsided ratio confirms the market was leaning heavily bullish after eight consecutive days of gains heading into the weekend, leaving it vulnerable to exactly this kind of headline shock.
Major tokens fell in lockstep, meanwhile. Ether dropped 1.8% to $2,114, XRP lost 2.5% to $1.41, BNB slid 1.4% to $633, solana fell 2.1% to $88.55, and dogecoin lost 2.7% to $0.092. The only majors green on the week were ether at 0.8% and solana at 0.7%. Everything else is red over seven days.
The 48-hour window means the deadline arrives Monday evening. If Iran doesn't comply, and there's no indication it will, the market faces the prospect of strikes on power infrastructure, which would be the first direct targeting of civilian energy systems in the conflict.
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to most commercial traffic, with roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas flows still disrupted.
Last week's rally to $75,912 now looks like it was built on ceasefire speculation that evaporated over the weekend. The Fed held rates on Wednesday with a dovish lean that should have supported risk assets, but the persistent risk of war headlines has traders holding back from making outsized directional bets.
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- Bitcoin traders are paying record prices for downside protection, with the put/call open interest ratio reaching 0.84, the highest level since June 2021, and put premiums reaching an all-time high relative to spot volume.
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