Bitcoin tumbles below $60,500 amid rising Middle East conflict

Cryptocurrency markets fell sharply on Thursday as geopolitical tensions intensified after Iran launched missile strikes on Israel. Bitcoin dropped below $60,500, while major altcoins such as Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin saw declines ranging from 5-15%.

As of 2:49 pm IST, Bitcoin slipped 1.8% to $60,492, while Ethereum plunged 5.4% to $2,339. The global cryptocurrency market cap fell by 3.7% to approximately $2.09 trillion in the past 24 hours.

"Bitcoin dropped to around $60,000 as tensions escalated following Iranian missile strikes on Israel in retaliation for Israeli military actions against militant leaders and Hezbollah," said Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder & CEO of Unocoin.


"While Bitcoin witnessed significant inflows at the end of September, the trend reversed with a notable outflow of $242.5 million on October 1st. Despite the current geopolitical unrest, Bitcoin still posted its strongest September close in over a decade," Vishwanath added.

Among altcoins, BNB (-2.4%), Solana (-7.1%), XRP (-14%), Dogecoin (-5.3%), Cardano (-5.7%), Toncoin (-5.4%), Avalanche (-7.8%), and Shiba Inu (-5.6%) recorded significant losses.

"Leading altcoins, including Solana, Cardano, BNB, Toncoin, and Avalanche, followed Bitcoin's downward trend with modest losses," said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus. "Market sentiment remains cautious, with the Fear and Greed Index dipping into fear territory at 37. Bitcoin needs to stay above $60,000 to maintain consolidation. If geopolitical tensions worsen, rising oil prices could have an inverse impact on the crypto market," he added.

Stablecoins recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $85.8 billion, accounting for 91.61% of the total crypto market's trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin's market cap dropped to $1.197 trillion, with its dominance at 56.91%. Bitcoin's trading volume decreased by 15.6% to $41.92 billion during the same period.

Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, commented, "Investors are likely to remain cautious as they assess the situation. For now, $60,000 acts as a key support level, while resistance is set at $62,100."

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