Bybit x Santiment: why history says you shouldn’t panic-sell crypto on war news

The crypto market is once again volatile and causing polarizing opinions. It has been an eventful few days, as news broke that the US had launched airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, sparking fears of a wider war in the Middle East. For over a week, Israel and Iran exchanged fire, and after America entered the conflict with “obliterating” strikes (according to Trump), Iran responded by launching missiles at a US base in Qatar. Tensions skyrocketed, with US embassies limiting access, airspace closures across multiple countries and fears of cyberattacks and oil route disruptions. Despite all this chaos and the terrifying real-life ramifications behind it, Bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies showed their resilience with an initial minor dip, followed by a solid bullish breakout. This was a predictable pattern for crypto, matching many of its previous short-term cycles when world tensions have arisen.

Back in February 2022 when the Russia-Ukraine war began, crypto prices plunged at first. But within days, the market bounced back stronger, leaving behind those who panic sold in fear. Similarly, October 2024 saw initial sell-offs after the Israel-Palestine conflict’s presence escalated in the mainstream media. However, just as we’re seeing now, prices dropped sharply as war headlines flooded social media … and then quickly reversed when the crowd turned overly fearful. As of the time of this writing, this latest conflict has looked like a classic case of markets moving opposite to what the crowd expects, and has been even more punishing to panicking traders when Iran and Israel called a truce.

With Bitcoin quickly rebounding as high as $108.2K *(as of Wednesday, June 25), we’re seeing the power of fear pushing out retail as whales are able to line their pockets. We’ve preached not to blindly follow the crowd in times of global tension. If sell-offs occur without any confirmation that news has really reached its worst-case scenario, a mild dip is likely being caused by irrational retailers reacting prematurely.