Why is Bitcoin crashing again today?

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is extending the pause on attacks targeting Iran’s energy facilities by another 10 days, pushing the deadline to April 6 after a request from Tehran.

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said he was holding off on further strikes for now and claimed talks are still moving forward. He pushed back on reports suggesting otherwise and said discussions are going well.

The original pause was set to expire on Friday, so this extension gives both sides more time, at least on paper, to see if anything can be worked out.

The conflict itself goes back to February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Since then, the situation has kept pressure on global markets, especially oil.

One of the biggest impacts has come from disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global crude flows. Iran has effectively restricted shipping there, which helped drive oil prices sharply higher in recent sessions.

Earlier in the day, Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that there are significant discussions happening around Iran, reinforcing the idea that some form of communication is ongoing.

But the messaging is still not lining up. Officials in Tehran continue to deny that there are any direct talks with Washington, which leaves markets stuck trying to figure out what is actually happening behind the scenes.

U.S. stocks sold off on Thursday as higher oil prices and fresh Middle East tension weighed on sentiment. The S&P 500 fell 1.74% to 6,477.16, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.38% to 21,408.08, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 469.38 points, down 1.01% to 45,960.11.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is now in correction territory, sitting more than 10% below its recent peak. That tells you how quickly momentum has flipped, especially in growth and AI-linked names.

On oil, Donald Trump said the recent surge and the pressure hitting broader markets are not as bad as he initially expected. Trump said he believes prices will come back down and could even fall below where they were before.

At the same time, a separate legal fight involving the Federal Reserve added another layer of uncertainty. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors pushed back hard against an effort by prosecutors to reopen a case tied to Jerome Powell.

The case centers on subpoenas linked to an investigation into costly renovations at the Fed’s headquarters and Powell’s testimony to Congress. The Fed’s legal team argued that the request to revisit the earlier decision does not meet the required legal standard.

In filings submitted to Judge James Boasberg, Fed lawyers said there has been no change in law, no new evidence, and no clear error that would justify reconsidering the ruling. They also said the prosecutors’ arguments relied on misreading both the court’s earlier opinion and the underlying record.

U.S. President Donald Trump turned up the pressure on Iran on Thursday and warned Tehran to move quickly on a peace deal with Washington or face what he said would be serious consequences.

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said Iranian negotiators were acting strangely and were publicly downplaying the U.S. proposal even while, in his telling, they were pushing hard for a deal behind the scenes.

He said Iran had already been militarily crushed, had no real path back, and needed to get serious before the situation reached a point where there would be no way back.

In another post, Trump also lashed out at NATO, saying its members had done nothing to help against Iran. He argued the United States did not need anything from the alliance, but said the moment should not be forgotten.

The tougher language came as the U.S. looked ready to raise the stakes even more on the ground. Washington is said to be preparing thousands of additional troops for the region, giving it the option to move fast if it decides on another round of military action.

Among the options being discussed are a move on Kharg Island, which is Iran’s main oil export terminal, or action tied to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important shipping routes in the world. Either step would carry huge consequences for oil flows, shipping, and the wider market mood.

The pressure on Tehran was not just coming from Washington. Earlier on Thursday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and several other Gulf countries issued a joint statement condemning what they called Iran’s criminal attacks. They also signaled that they were prepared to act in self-defense going forward.

European markets opened lower on Thursday and gave back the gains from Wednesday as traders tried to make sense of conflicting signals over whether there is any real path to peace in the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said messages had been passed between Tehran and Washington through mediators, but he made clear that did not amount to direct negotiations with the U.S.

Abbas’ comment followed earlier reports from Iranian state media saying Iran planned to reject a U.S. ceasefire offer and had instead set out its own terms for ending the war.

The Stoxx 600 fell 1.3%, with every major sector and bourse in the red. The FTSE 100 dropped 1.2%, Germany’s DAX lost 1.5%, France’s CAC 40 fell 1%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB was down 1.2%.

The selling was led by miners and technology stocks. Mining shares fell 4%, while tech stocks lost 2.5%, a sign that investors were pulling back from risk again.

That weaker mood showed up across Asia too, though not every market moved the same way. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% to 8,525.70.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.27% to 53,603.65, while the Topix lost 0.22% to 3,642.8. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.22% to 5,460.46, and the Kosdaq fell 1.98% to 1,136.64.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slid 1.89% to 24,856.43. Mainland China was lower too, with the CSI 300 down more than 1% to 4,477.53 and the Shanghai Composite off 1.09% at 3,889.084. India stood out on the upside, with the Nifty 50 rising 1.72% to 23,306.45.

Bitcoin fell to $69,502.60, down by 2.35%, as Ethereum dropped 4.54% to $2,080.30, Solana lost 4.64% to $88.01, XRP fell 3.16% to $1.3708, HYPE slipped 3.27% to $39.207, Dogecoin dropped 5.26% to $0.09155, and BNB fell 3.00% to $629.93.

Crypto open interest stood at $108.09 billion, down 3.6%, while liquidations rose 17.69% to $273.09 million.

Liquidation data showed that over the past twenty-four hours, ETH saw $40.25 million in liquidations, BTC had $21.30 million, SOL saw $2.43 million, XRP had $990.33K, and DOGE recorded $486.75K.

Data from Coinglass also shows that Bitcoin dominance edged down 0.02% to 58.38%, while Bitcoin exchange balance fell by 2.11K BTC to 2.45 million BTC. The Fear & Greed Index dropped to 9, showing extreme fear.

Positioning stayed mixed. On Binance BTC/USDT, the top trader long-short ratio by positions was 0.97 even after a 3.51% increase. The top trader long-short ratio by accounts was 1.83, up 27.74%. On OKX BTC, the accounts long-short ratio was 1.54, up 27.27%. On Binance BTC/USDT, the broader accounts long-short ratio was 1.67, up 24.53%.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were little changed early Thursday as traders watched the latest headlines out of the Middle East and looked for signs the war in Iran could cool down. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures hovered around flat, while Dow futures fell 52 points, or 0.11%. That came after a stronger Wednesday cash session, when the S&P 500 rose 0.54%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.77%, and the Dow added 305.43 points, or 0.66%.

Gold futures were down 1.89% at $4,421.16, falling as much as 2% below $4,420 an ounce, while spot gold traded down 1.5% at $4,437.62 in Singapore. Silver fell 1.8% to $69.90, and platinum and palladium also moved lower. Oil cooled as well, with U.S. crude down 2.2% to $90.32 a barrel and Brent falling 2.17% to $102.22.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.11% to 99.510. In bonds, the 10-year Treasury yield rose more than 4 basis points to 4.3679%, the 30-year yield added more than 2 basis points to 4.926%, and the 2-year yield climbed more than 5 basis points to 3.937%.

Yields moved higher again after another weak Treasury sale, with Wednesday’s $70 billion 5-year auction following Tuesday’s soft $69 billion 2-year auction, which drew the weakest demand since March 2025.