Bitcoin pulls back from 12-week high as Iran rally hits seller wall at $79,400

Bitcoin tagged a 12-week high of $79,399 overnight before sellers stepped in Asian morning hours on Monday, dousing a rally that setup the asset for a run to $80,000 for the first time since January.

Bitcoin traded at $77,705 on Monday morning, down 0.4% over 24 hours after climbing to $79,399 around 09:00 IST and reversing sharply through the Asia session. Ether slipped 2.4% to $2,329, Solana fell 1.9% to $86, and BNB declined 1.2% to $630. The rally that lifted bitcoin to its highest level since January 31 unwound by mid-morning Singapore time.

The push higher came on a report from Axios that Iran offered a new proposal to the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with nuclear talks delayed until after the US naval blockade is lifted.

Asian equities ran with it. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.7%, the emerging markets index hit a record, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing surged 6% to its own record. Brent crude pared earlier 2.5% gains to up 1% at $106.50 a barrel.

Bitcoin briefly traded along with the risk-on move and then peeled away. The rejection at $79,399 has a clean technical explanation. Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said $80,000 is where many recent buyers are approaching breakeven, which historically produces selling pressure as those traders rotate out of positions they were underwater on for weeks.

Bitcoin is up 16% in April, on pace for its first double-digit monthly gain since May 2025. Strategy bought $3.9 billion of bitcoin this month according to Bloomberg, the firm’s largest monthly accumulation in a year.

Funding rates on perpetual futures across major exchanges remain negative on a 7-day basis at -0.13% per Coinglass, meaning shorts are still paying longs to hold positions, which is the structural setup that produces a squeeze if spot can hold above the recent breakeven cluster.

The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank both have policy decisions this week, and megacap tech earnings include the four largest US companies by market cap.

Either the Fed or a single earnings beat could provide the catalyst the bitcoin tape has been missing. Without one, the third rejection from $79,000 in eight sessions starts to define the range rather than precede the breakout.

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