Ether, solana, xrp surge up to 10% as majors recover Saturday's war-driven losses
Solana led major tokens with a 10.8% bounce, while ether reclaimed $2,000 and bitcoin climbed back above $66,800 ahead of traditional futures opens on Sunday.
By Shaurya Malwa Mar 1, 2026, 7:25 a.m.
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What to know:
- Crypto prices rebounded sharply Sunday, with bitcoin climbing about 5% to $66,843 after briefly dropping below $64,000 on Saturday amid U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
- Traders interpreted Iranian state TV's confirmation of Supreme Leader Khamenei's death as increasing the odds of a shorter conflict, fueling gains led by Solana, ether and other major tokens.
- Despite the weekend surge, weekly performance remains mixed and the rally is seen as fragile, with thin liquidity and upcoming moves in oil, equities and bonds likely to determine whether crypto's bounce holds.
Crypto markets snapped back hard on Sunday after spending Saturday pricing in what looked like the start of a prolonged regional war.
Bitcoin climbed to $66,843, up 5.2% over the past 24 hours, recovering most of the losses from Saturday's slide below $64,000 after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The bounce accelerated after Iranian state TV confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei, which markets interpreted as raising the odds of a shorter conflict.
Solana led the recovery among majors, surging 10.8% to $86.42. Ether rose 7.5% to reclaim $1,994, putting it back within touching distance of $2,000 for the first time since Thursday. Cardano added 6.7%, dogecoin gained 6.5%, XRP rose 5.6%, and BNB climbed 4.8%.
The weekly picture is messier, however. Bitcoin is still down 1.6% over seven days, XRP has lost 2%, and dogecoin is off 2.5%. Solana and ether are the only majors that have clawed back into the green on the week, up 1.7% and 1.1% respectively.
The weekend volatility has been enormous but net movement has been small, which captures the broader story of a market whipsawing on global headlines without actually going anywhere.
The bounce looks convincing on a 24-hour chart but fragile in context. Saturday's sell-off happened on thin weekend liquidity. Sunday's rally happened on the same thin liquidity, just in the opposite direction.
The real test arrives in hours when equity futures, oil, and bond markets reopen and institutional capital has its first chance to react to Saturday's events.
The Polymarket's ceasefire contract gives a 78% chance of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire by April 30 and 61% by March 31, as reported earlier Sunday.
If that pricing holds once traditional markets digest the weekend, the bounce has legs. However, if oil spikes and equities gap lower on the open, crypto's Sunday optimism could get faded the same way Wednesday's push to $70,000 was.
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Polymarket attracts record trading 'world' volumes as U.S.-Iran bets top $529 million
By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Nikhilesh De3 hours ago
A prediction market about military strikes on a sovereign nation now sits alongside presidential election bets as one of the most-traded contracts the platform has ever hosted.
What to know:
- Polymarket has rapidly become a hub for betting on the U.S.-Iran conflict, with traders wagering on ceasefire dates, regime change and potential U.S. ground involvement.
- A contract on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaving power by March 31 drew $45 million in volume, while a long-running market on whether the U.S. would strike Iran has amassed $529 million, making it one of Polymarket's largest ever.
- Onchain analysts have flagged six wallets that made about $1.2 million by correctly betting on a Feb. 28 U.S. strike on Iran, intensifying scrutiny of potential insider trading as Polymarket promotes its markets as a source of real-time geopolitical insight.
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