LIVE: Bitcoin surges past $80,000 as crypto rally holds firm

Bitcoin broke through $80,000 on Tuesday, with new money flowing back into spot Bitcoin ETFs while traders were also taking on more risk again. The coin was last around $80,501, up more than 2%.

This run has been building since last week. Bitcoin gained more than 20% across three days, its strongest three-day stretch since 2023.

A huge part of that move came from traders betting against crypto getting forced out, with more than $4 billion in bearish positions liquidated as prices shot higher.

The rest of the market was moving too. Ether was up 1.17% at $2,498, while XRP gained 2.6% to $1.52. XRP has now climbed roughly 50% over the past seven days, based on CoinGecko pricing.

There is also more activity showing up further out in the Bitcoin options market. Traders are not only paying for bets tied to an immediate jump anymore.

More money is now going into contracts that benefit if Bitcoin keeps rising later on, which is different from some of the shorter rebounds seen before.

CoinGlass had Bitcoin at $79,699.70, up 3.37%, with a 0.0057% funding rate. Bitcoin derivatives volume was $115.13 billion, almost 98% higher, while market value stood near $1.60 trillion. Spot activity came in around $57.54 billion, and Bitcoin liquidations totaled $354.47 million.

For Ether, CoinGlass showed $2,479.33, up 0.92%, with funding at 0.0071%. Derivatives trading reached $69.74 billion, up 44.61%, market cap was $299.92 billion, spot volume was $32.76 billion, and liquidations came to $156.67 million.

Solana was the strongest mover among the four major coins listed, rising 6.31% to $100.07. Its funding rate was 0.0083%, derivatives volume hit $15.60 billion, up 76.33%, and its market cap reached $58.62 billion. Spot volume was $6.61 billion, with $23.67 million in liquidations.

XRP was shown at $1.486, up 1.72%, with a 0.0094% funding rate. Derivatives volume stood at $8.12 billion, down 7.69%, while market cap was $93.49 billion. Spot volume came in at $3.72 billion, and liquidations totaled $16.95 million.

Wall Street ended Monday mixed. The S&P 500 slipped 0.28% to 7,652.86, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.76% to 25,980.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went the other way, adding 140.15 points, or 0.26%, to finish at 53,417.16.

A lot of the pressure came from chipmakers. Micron Technology sank 5.8%. Advanced Micro Devices dropped more than 3%, and Broadcom was down over 2%.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF also lost 2.7%. That tech selloff was enough to outweigh the relief coming from lower Treasury yields.

Oil was weaker too, even with Washington rolling out its most aggressive sanctions push against Iran so far. West Texas Intermediate dropped roughly 2.5% to $84.89 a barrel, while Brent crude also fell about 2.5%, landing at $92.06.

Gold, meanwhile, kept moving higher. Spot prices were up 0.8% at $4,639.49 an ounce by 2:25 p.m. EDT, after touching $4,680.70 earlier in the day. That was the strongest level since May 14.

December US gold futures finished 0.4% higher at $4,697.80 an ounce. Gold had already moved through its 200-day moving average last week, and prices have continued rising since then.

Money has also been pouring into gold-backed ETFs. Those funds took in 46.7 metric tons, worth about $6.4 billion, last week.

The World Gold Council said that was the biggest weekly intake in 10 months, with funds listed in North America and Europe bringing in most of the money.

Bullion gained more than 5% last week after the US Treasury Department’s bond-buyback support program helped push the dollar down to levels not seen in several months. With the greenback weaker, buyers using other currencies could pick up dollar-priced gold for less.

The Trump administration opened a new front against Iran on Monday, this time focused on cutting Tehran off from the businesses, governments and financial channels that still help it move money internationally.

Washington says companies or other players that continue helping Iran could eventually face secondary sanctions themselves.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent introduced the campaign under the name Operation Economic Outcast. Scott said the goal is to go after Iran’s financial links outside the country and make it harder for Tehran to keep accessing the wider global economy.

Trump is also personally contacting foreign leaders. Scott said Trump is asking them directly to stop doing business with Iran, with each government being given specific demands based on the connections Washington wants ended.

None of the newly promised penalties have actually kicked in yet. The US is first planning to contact countries individually and give them deadlines for ending activities Washington has already flagged. Scott also warned that any organization helping Iran clean or move illicit funds could lose access to the US dollar system.

Scott made clear that the countdown has now begun, meaning countries and companies will have a window to comply before Washington starts using the threatened restrictions.

Trump had previously described this stage of the pressure campaign as Iran’s “Economic D-Day.” The announcement immediately raised another question: whether Washington is prepared to use the same approach against China, which remains Iran’s biggest trading partner.

Bitcoin kept running on Monday and came within touching distance of $80,000, adding another 2% as traders moved back into crypto.

That put the coin at prices last seen in May. Ether was moving too, also up about 2%, with the token sitting near $2,500, its strongest showing since January.

Crypto-linked shares moved with them. Strategy added roughly 2%, while Strive climbed around 4%. Companies built around Ether holdings were higher as well, with Bitmine up about 3% and Sharplink ahead by roughly 2%.

Bitcoin had spent months going nowhere after falling into a long downturn that started in October, so this latest move has traders asking whether that stretch is finally breaking.

The timing is getting extra attention because Bitcoin is also heading into a part of the year that has historically been stronger for the asset.

At the same time, Washington is getting ready to turn up the economic pressure on Iran again. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a huge new financial strike against Tehran would begin Monday.

Scott described what is coming as the biggest economic attack the US has ever launched against the country.

Iran, meanwhile, has warned that it could take control of ships that ignore its movement rules inside the Strait of Hormuz.

The timing matters because the US and Iran have now gone beyond the 60-day ceasefire period without reaching an agreement.

That means the formal process meant to keep the truce alive and bring the Middle East war, now in its sixth month, toward an end has effectively run out.

Scott laid out the message in an X post on Sunday evening in the US, saying the next phase would begin at sunrise and comparing it to an economic D-Day. He also presented the coming action as the final stage of Washington’s financial campaign against Tehran.

Whatever comes next will sit on top of restrictions the US already has in place across Iranian banking, energy, aviation and crypto activity.

The Trump administration has said Iran’s economy is falling apart, pointing to very high inflation and a currency that has continued losing value.

There are still few public details on exactly what the new penalties will look like. But the pressure is already showing in the currency market.

The Iranian rial fell to another record low on the open market Sunday, with one US dollar moving above 2 million rials, based on figures reported by Gulf News.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs just had their strongest week in 10 months. The 13 U.S.-listed funds brought in a net $1.92 billion last week, their biggest weekly inflow since early October 2025. That came as Bitcoin jumped about 23%, its strongest weekly gain in more than three years, and was trading around $78,000 at press time.

The rally first got a lift from U.S. plans to increase buybacks of long-dated government bonds, a move aimed at bringing yields down.

These were the biggest weekly ETF inflows since Bitcoin fell from its record above $126,000 on Oct. 6 and slipped into what became a crypto winter. Just one week before this latest surge, the spot funds had actually lost nearly $390 million, their biggest net outflow in six weeks.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust was able to generate $1.3 billion by itself, suggesting it has been the biggest contributor of new assets. With all the success it experienced, the ETFs are still lagging by roughly $2.9 billion for the year.

Price-wise, the $79,500-$80,000 range is the first obstacle Bitcoin should clear. Sellers had controlled this zone earlier; therefore, a daily close above $80,000 would solidify the breakout pattern. If, however, Bitcoin turns around once again, sideways action could follow.

Outside crypto, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 18 points, or 0.03%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1%, while Nasdaq-100 futures were off 0.3%.

US stocks finished last week a bit under pressure, with the Dow losing 0.8% (its second straight weekly decline), the S&P 500 falling 1.4%, while the Nasdaq dropped 2%, ending three consecutive weeks of gains for both indexes.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.74%, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.12%, while China’s CSI 300 fell 1.21%. However, on the opposite side was the S&P/ASX 200 from Australia, which posted a gain of 0.49%.

Bond markets remain a major drag on stocks. The 30-year US Treasury yield moved above 5.3% last week, reaching a level not seen in almost two decades. Government borrowing costs in Japan, France and Germany also climbed to highs not seen in several years.