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

What to know:

• Bitcoin briefly hit a 12-week high near $79,400 before reversing in Asian trading, marking a third failed attempt to clear the $79,000 level in eight sessions.
• Analysts say the $80,000 area is a key breakeven zone for recent buyers, creating selling pressure even as bitcoin is up 16 percent in April and seeing strong institutional accumulation.
• Traders are watching this week’s Federal Reserve and European Central Bank decisions, along with megacap tech earnings, for a potential catalyst to push bitcoin out of its current range.

Bitcoin BTC$77,764.46 tagged a 12-week high of $79,399 overnight before sellers stepped in during 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 U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with nuclear talks delayed until after the U.S. 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 $79,000 level that has now been rejected three times.

The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank both have policy decisions this week, and megacap tech earnings include the four largest U.S. 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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