Bitcoin Falls Below $64,000 as U.S.-Iran Conflict and U.S.-China Tensions Weigh on Risk Appetite
Claire Weston
Bitcoin fell to $63,469, breaking below its 50-day moving average, as a U.S. airstrike on Iran and new Trump accusations against China hit simultaneously — dragging Asia-Pacific equities, Nasdaq futures, and the Australian dollar lower.
Bitcoin broke a key moving average — what does that signal?
Bitcoin last traded at $63,469, slipping below the 50-day simple moving average — a widely tracked momentum line.
This means → short-term bullish support has cracked; the odds of a shift from "pullback" to "trend weakening" are rising.
Thursday's 1.4% drop carried into Friday. Two consecutive sessions of selling suggest this is not a one-off shock.
The U.S. struck Iran — what was hit?
U.S. forces struck southern Hormozgan province, hitting five bridges; a separate missile struck the maritime control tower at Iran's Chabahar port.
The source is Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, citing the provincial government.
In plain terms = the targets were infrastructure and port facilities — an intensity level beyond "limited retaliation."
Yet oil barely flinched — WTI held near $79 a barrel, suggesting markets bet the conflict will not disrupt crude supply.
Why did U.S.–China relations suddenly become a new variable?
Trump declassified an intelligence report alleging China obtained 220 million U.S. voter records and interfered in the 2020 election; China's embassy in Washington denied the claims.
This means → the accusation lands just weeks before a planned Trump–Xi September summit, re-injecting friction into a relationship that had been stabilizing.
Eamonn Sheridan, chief Asia-Pacific FX analyst at InvestingLive, noted: "Regardless of the facts behind the allegations, the language itself could complicate the diplomatic groundwork for September."
How did global markets follow the selloff?
Japan's Nikkei fell nearly 3% to a one-month low; Australia's ASX 200 dropped 0.5%.
Nasdaq futures slid 0.8%, after the Nasdaq closed down more than 1.6% on Thursday.
The Australian dollar weakened against the U.S. dollar — the Aussie is a commodity-sensitive currency and widely treated as a proxy for China risk among G7 currencies.
In plain terms = when the Aussie drops, markets are often front-running China-related uncertainty.
What to watch next?
The central question: whether the planned Trump–Xi September summit goes ahead as scheduled, and whether pre-summit friction can be defused by then.
Analysts warn that further U.S.–China escalation would spread uncertainty from the Aussie dollar to broader risk assets, including Bitcoin.
This reflects a fragile market backdrop — when geopolitical shocks and political friction arrive together, risk-off sentiment now transmits faster than it used to.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.