BTC Struggles to Hold $70K Territory as Investors Lock in Gains Amid Trump's Iran Ultimatum
Bitcoin encountered resistance at the $70,000 threshold after reaching April's highest levels, with market observers attributing the slowdown to investor profit-taking.
Bitcoin (BTC) remained confined beneath the $70,000 threshold as Wall Street's Monday trading session commenced, with market analysts attributing the price stagnation to profit-taking behavior.
Key points:
- Bitcoin and stocks wobble as the US trading session begins amid nerves over the US-Iran war outcome.
- Profit taking activity is keeping BTC price action away from a $70,000 reclaim, says research.
- A Trader says $71,000 will act as fuel for a surge $10,000 higher.
BTC price meets "profit-taking pressure"
Information from TradingView indicated BTC price movements entering a consolidation phase following the achievement of fresh April peaks at $70,275 on the Bitstamp exchange.
Trading uncertainty stemming from market anxiety over the ongoing US-Iran conflict led to hesitant market behavior, with American equities showing minimal movement at the opening bell.
During a media appearance at a military event, US President Donald Trump repeated his previous statements that Iran would "have no bridges" and "no power plants" unless a deal was reached.
"I won't go further because there are other things that are worse than those two," he told reporters.
Trump previously stated that the deadline for a deal was 8pm Eastern time on Tuesday.
As the price remained trapped underneath the $70,000 level, blockchain analytics firm Glassnode identified internal market dynamics as the primary factor preventing further upward momentum.
"As price probed the $70K region, Realized Profit/hour spiked above $20M, signalling a local exhaustion," it noted in a post on X.
"A pattern consistent since February 2026: Every approach to the $70k–$80K band meets thin liquidity and profit-taking pressure, capping the bounce."
Anonymous market participant LP observed that Mondays and Thursdays had consistently marked the upper and lower boundaries of weekly trading ranges across 2026.
"Price pushed higher into Monday, increasing the probability of this pivot forming a weekly high. If the correlation continues to play out, this would suggest Thursday forms the low of the week," they told X followers.
"Watch price action closely today and tomorrow, it will confirm whether this intra-week pivot resolved as a high or a low."
Bitcoin trader eyes $71,000 springboard
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency analyst Michaël Van de Poppe indicated that the critical threshold for bearish traders sits marginally above Monday's session high.
"Pretty strong momentum on the markets of Bitcoin," he wrote on X about the initial move to $70,000.
"Volatility picking up, and I think it's fireworks during this week as we might be getting to the end stage of the entire situation in the Strait of Hormuz. If Bitcoin breaks $71K, then markets are in for a test at $80K."
Van de Poppe also warned against blindly following widespread market consensus predicting further declines ahead.
"Given that all the markets are so oversold at this point, all on-chain indicators are looking overextended and are at similar levels to the bottom areas in 2018, 2020 and 2022, I wouldn't be surprised that we're getting a relief run that's going to turn the sentiment quickly," he concluded.