NEW YORK, April 6, 2026, 14:06 EDT
Bitcoin added roughly 3.3% Monday, breaking past $70,000 for a short stretch as traders responded to renewed ceasefire discussions involving the United States and Iran. The cryptocurrency was last trading near $69,528, having earlier climbed to an intraday peak of $70,240.
This is significant: bitcoin’s action this year has looked more like a high-volatility punt than any safe haven play. Despite Monday’s rebound, the price is still far from that October high north of $125,000, and it’s only been two months since bitcoin sank to around $60,000 as the broader market sold off.
A Pakistan-backed proposal shook things up, with a source familiar with the discussions saying the framework had already circulated overnight between Washington and Tehran. The plan lays out two steps: first, an immediate ceasefire to potentially reopen the Strait of Hormuz, followed by 15 to 20 days of negotiations aimed at a broader deal. “That was the driver of today’s optimism,” said Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp. Reuters
The surge stalled on unsteady footing. According to IRNA, Iran dismissed a ceasefire proposal, sticking to its demand for a lasting end to hostilities. Trump, meanwhile, set a deadline, giving Tehran until Tuesday night to strike a deal or face the fallout. “Until we have some kind of concrete agreement it’s hard to be fully committed to investing,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. Reuters
Crypto flows took things from there. A wave of short covering pushed prices higher, forcing out more than $200 million in bearish bets in just 24 hours. Derek Lim, who leads research at market-maker Caladan, described the move as a “textbook short squeeze.” He cautioned that unless there’s actual progress in Hormuz, the rally could turn out to be just a “headline rally that will likely fade within days.” Decrypt
The rally rippled across crypto. Ether, the No. 2 digital coin, jumped 3.5% to $2,133. Shares of Coinbase picked up 1.7%. Strategy climbed 4.4% in U.S. trading after revealing in an April 6 filing it picked up 4,871 bitcoin—worth $329.9 million—between April 1 and April 5. That pushed its total stash to 766,970 coins.
Institutional interest hasn’t disappeared. Morgan Stanley’s updated March 27 filing for its Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust outlines a 0.14% sponsor fee, with plans to list shares on NYSE Arca under the ticker MSBT. The difference with a spot bitcoin ETF: it actually holds bitcoin, instead of relying on futures contracts. The U.S. only got its first spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2024.
Even so, Monday’s rally seemed fueled by headlines rather than any real shift in crypto fundamentals. Oil hovered near $111 per barrel, and gains across Wall Street stayed muted—suggesting traders weren’t all-in on the ceasefire narrative just yet.
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