$300 Million in Shorts Liquidated as BTC and ETH Rocket to 6-Week Peaks

The latest gains came after Trump mulled sending troops to Kharg Island and urged NATO to help with the war against Iran.

Bitcoin’s price is on the move on Monday morning, surging to a six-week peak of just over $74,000. This might be rather unexpected as the weekend was quite eventful on the Middle East war front, as the US hit a key Iranian island, and legacy financial markets opened hours ago in reaction to the news.

Many altcoins have produced even more impressive increases, including ETH, which has finally climbed above $2,200.

Crypto Market Moves Higher

The total crypto market cap has added over $80 billion to $2.6 trillion on CG as of now. Bitcoin exceeded $74,000 minutes ago, where it faced some resistance, and now sits just below that level. The asset fell toward $70,000 over the weekend after Trump announced “the most powerful bombing raids in Middle East history,” when the US military attacked Kharg Island.

However, it bounced off and eyed $72,000 yesterday, but once the legacy financial markets started to open on Sunday evening and Monday morning, it jumped to the aforementioned six-week peak. ETH is among the top performers in the past 24 hours, surging by 8% to nearly $2,300 for the first time since early February.

Notable gains are evident from ADA (10%), DOT (12%), PEPE (15%), ETC (9%), and others. The total value of wrecked positions has risen to $350 million, according to CoinGlass, with nearly $300 million coming from shorts. Interestingly, ETH shorts are responsible for the largest portion, followed closely by BTC’s.

Latest Developments

Although Trump said at first that the US doesn’t want to attack any of Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure, he threatened to do so if Iran interferes in any form with the “free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” He later urged numerous countries to send warships to defend the passage.

More recently, he mulled the idea of sending troops on the ground to seize the key island, which is responsible for over 90% of Iran’s oil production.

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BREAKING: President Trump is considering putting boots on the ground to seize Iran’s Kharg Island, per Axios.

Details include:

1. The move appears to be contingent on if tankers remain bottled up in the Persian Gulf

2. Trump is working to assemble a coalition of countries to…

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 16, 2026

The other big development in the past few hours came when Trump suggested that the US has continuously helped NATO with the war in Ukraine, so the alliance should return the favor now, at least with the Strait.