Ethereum derivatives erupted after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Binance logged $1.72B in ETH buy volume in one hour as $24M in shorts were wiped out.
Iran’s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz was reopening to commercial vessels hit crypto markets fast. Ethereum felt it almost instantly. Within one hour, the derivatives market turned violent.

Geopolitical headlines have been dictating crypto price action for weeks. This one landed differently. The scale of the reaction on Binance alone told the story.
Taker Buy Volume on Ethereum derivatives markets exploded the moment the announcement dropped. According to Darkfost_Coc on X, Binance recorded more than $1.72B in ETH derivatives buy volume within that single hour. That figure stands out even by Binance’s own historical standards.
The buying pressure did not slow down. It cascaded directly into a short squeeze. Aggressive long positioning forced short sellers into covering, which only pushed the price further up.
Roughly $24M in short positions were liquidated almost instantly during that same window, Darkfost_Coc noted on X. The speed of the flush was what made the move unusual.
Funding rates on Ethereum were deeply negative going into the announcement, sitting at -0.004%. That figure told a clear story. The majority of the market was positioned short on ETH at the time.
That kind of setup is a loaded gun. One macro headline, and it fires.
Darkfost_Coc, citing data from CryptoQuant, noted that the deeply negative funding environment made ETH particularly vulnerable to exactly this kind of explosive unwind. A market crowded on one side needs only a spark.
U.S. and Iran negotiations had reportedly been making progress in the days before. The Hormuz reopening was the confirmation traders had not fully priced in. Some moved fast. Very fast.
This event did not happen in a vacuum. Markets have been reacting to every development in the Iran-U.S. standoff for weeks. The Hormuz move was simply the sharpest reaction yet.
As Darkfost_Coc wrote on X, the sensitivity investors currently have to these headlines makes markets unstable and erratic. Aggressive leverage in that environment is dangerous. This squeeze proved exactly that. Short sellers who were sitting on negative funding positions with high leverage got caught offside with almost no time to react.
The confidence spike following the reopening pushed investors to go long on Ethereum quickly. That aggression triggered the price move. The price move triggered the liquidations. The liquidations amplified everything.
One announcement. One hour. $1.72 billion in buy volume. $24M gone.
Disclaimer: This article is based on on-chain data and market observations reported by third-party analysts. It does not constitute financial or investment advice.
The post ETH Shorts Get Wrecked as Strait of Hormuz Reopens appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.


