Bitcoin recrosses $71,000 but level acting as “resistance rather than a launchpad”
Amid the Iran war, bitcoin’s recovery is “a fragile one,” with traders remaining cautious as the asset dips back below $70,000 early on Tuesday.
Bitcoin is showing signs of stabilization amid the Middle East conflict, crossing $70,000 on Monday following President Trump’s comments that the war would end soon. Overall, sentiment remains cautious, as any further geopolitical or macro surprises could hamper bitcoin’s fragile momentum. Early on Tuesday, the asset crossed $71,000 but has since dipped.
Stephen Wundke, strategy and revenue director at Algoz, said, “If this is a recovery, it is a fragile one.”
“Until $71K is held with follow-through, this level acts as resistance rather than a launchpad,” Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst at Nansen, told Sherwood News.
Søndergaard said that the next two weeks could determine whether bitcoin finally breaks higher or continues to trade sideways, adding that larger, sophisticated traders are positioning cautiously, with “smart money” activity showing selective accumulation rather than broad risk-on conviction.
Pratik Kala, portfolio manager and head of research at Apollo Crypto, told Sherwood that to the upside, he’s eyeing a strong push above $73,000 “to take us to 87K as the next major resistance.”
“Any surprise in the conflict can fizzle the rally, but we remain optimistic with how the price has performed over the past two weeks,” Kala said.
Glassnode analysts also said that overall, conditions are stabilizing, with momentum, ETF demand, and profitability metrics improving modestly.
They added, however, that capital flows remain soft, speculative participation is limited, and broader conviction has yet to return fully.
“Derivatives positioning is mixed. Futures open interest increased, signaling modest leverage build-up, while long-side funding turned sharply negative, reflecting stronger demand for short exposure,” they said in a report.
Dean Chen, a Bitunix analyst, echoed the sentiment, saying that derivatives liquidation distributions show a dense concentration of short liquidation zones between $70,000 and $74,000 above current price levels, while leveraged long liquidity remains clustered near the $65,000 to $66,000 range below.
“With energy shocks and geopolitical uncertainty continuing to dominate the macro narrative, the crypto market has yet to form a unilateral trend structure,” Chen said.
Bitcoin ETFs registered $167 million in inflows on Monday, bringing the total to $735.48 million so far this month, according to SoSoValue. In February, bitcoin ETFs recorded $206.52 million in outflows.
Shawn Young, chief analyst at MEXC Research, told Sherwood that investors appear to be looking past recent geopolitical concerns, and market attention is shifting back to liquidity conditions and institutional demand, an upside partly driven by Monday’s inflows.
Young said that while there is a chance the uptick in bitcoin’s price might be a dead cat bounce, and may experience a drawdown if short-term traders choose to take profit, “the coin is gradually pruning sellers.”
“Worst-case scenario, BTC will retest the $65,000 support level if it faces rejection at the current price level. However, should current momentum be sustained, the coin could retest the $75,000–$80,000 range in the coming weeks,” Young said.
