Dogecoin drops 4% as Bitcoin’s rally stalls and equities climb on Iran ceasefire optimism
Major digital assets paused their recent surge on Thursday, with Bitcoin trading near $81,000 and Ether dipping below $2,330, while global stock markets reached new peaks driven by expectations of a U.S.-Iran agreement.
What to know:
— Key cryptocurrencies halted their recent upward movement, with Bitcoin falling under $81,000 and both Ether and Dogecoin retreating, although weekly gains stayed robust.
— Worldwide stock indices hit new highs fueled by optimism surrounding a possible U.S.-Iran truce and strong corporate earnings, while oil prices softened and gold continued its rally on expectations of interest rate cuts.
— Analysts identify Bitcoin’s 200-day moving average near $83,300 as a critical bullish checkpoint, amid expanding stablecoin supply, increasing institutional involvement from entities like Morgan Stanley, and sustained Ether accumulation by major holders.
The crypto rally took a pause on Thursday while equity markets continued their ascent.
Bitcoin
XRP and BNB maintained stability, with XRP at $1.41 and BNB rising 1.3% to $643. Solana surged 6.1% for the week to $88.06.
The pullback coincided with global stock markets reaching new records on hopes of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire, with reports suggesting the two nations are drafting a proposal to end the nearly 10-week conflict.
The MSCI All Country World Index rose 0.3% and MSCI’s Asia gauge jumped 1.9% to a record, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 hitting an intraday high. South Korea passed Canada as the world’s seventh-largest equity market by value, with Softbank surging 18% and TSMC adding 3.3%. Wall Street gauges closed at all-time highs Wednesday with about 80% of S&P 500 companies beating earnings estimates, Bloomberg reported.
Brent crude held under $102 a barrel on speculation a US-Iran deal would help resume oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, while gold zoomed for a third straight day to $4,700 an ounce on Fed rate-cut bets and easing inflation expectations.
FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in a note that bitcoin’s next test sits at the 200-day moving average around $83,300. A moving average smooths out short-term volatility by averaging an asset’s price over a set period, and the 200-day version is among the most-watched long-term trend gauge among traders.
«A firm consolidation above this level would be a further sign of bullish dominance,» he wrote, adding that the first such sign came one month ago when bitcoin held above the 50-day moving average. He flagged that a short-term profit-taking phase is likely as bitcoin approaches $83,000, «allowing some of the gains to be taken.»
The structural backdrop continues to support the move. Tether’s market cap has grown by $5.9 billion over the past 60 days, per analyst Darkfost, reversing a $2 billion monthly outflow trend that ran through early 2026. Such issuances are considered to be a source of new capital entering the crypto market.
In other developments, Morgan Stanley signalled this week that US banks may eventually be able to hold bitcoin on their balance sheets despite current regulatory barriers, with the bank already running a bitcoin-based ETP and planning to launch spot crypto trading on its wealth platform later this year.
Western Union launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on Solana to bypass traditional interbank settlement delays.
Elsewhere, BitMine added more than 100,000 ETH for the third straight week, taking its ether reserves to 5.18 million ETH worth roughly $13 billion, or 4.29% of total supply.