Bitcoin returned above $80,000 for the first time since late January, as traders reacted to a mix of geopolitical relief, steady ETF demand and moderate short-term pressure in crypto derivatives markets.
BTC was trading near $80,000 after touching an intraday high of $80,529, reaching its highest level since January 31. The break is important as $80,000 has become the market’s closest psychological boundary after weeks of recovery from deeper stress in the first quarter.
Why is the price of Bitcoin rising today?
The main catalyst seems to come from Washington. In the company of truth publish on Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom”, an operation he said would help ships stranded by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump described the move as a “humanitarian gesture” for neutral countries affected by the US-Israeli war with Iran, saying the US would “guide our ships safely” through restricted waterways so they could continue doing business.
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The message reached a market that was already sensitive to any movement in the standoff in Hormuz. The initiative is due to begin on Monday and could involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 military personnel, while Iran has denounced the plan as a possible violation of the ceasefire. “They are victims of circumstance,” Trump wrote of the stranded crews. Any interference, he added, “should be dealt with strongly.”
For crypto traders, the important point was not that Hormuz risk disappeared. It’s not. The point was that the US announcement gave markets a concrete path to de-escalation after weeks in which blocked transport, higher energy risks and uncertainty over Iran weighed on broader risk appetite. Iran’s effective closure of the strait has rattled global markets, with ships and sailors stranded in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war.
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Derivatives positioning then reinforced that move. CoinGlass data shows $356.55 million in total crypto liquidations over 24 hours, including $303.88 million in short liquidations versus $52.66 million in long liquidations. Bitcoin made up the largest liquidation block on the heatmap at $170.69 million, followed by Ethereum at $91.60 million. This is consistent with moderate short pressure: bearish positions were forced to buy back into the rising market, adding mechanical demand just as BTC crossed the $80,000 area.
The squeeze was not the only support. U.S. exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds saw their fifth straight week of inflows, totaling $153.87 million last week, according to data from SoSoValue. That flow profile helped bolster the argument that the move was not just a headline-driven jump, but also reflected continued institutional allocations after weeks of recovery.
At press time, BTC was trading at $79,865.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
