Bitcoin cools off after a late-week rally as traders eye CME gap and DeFi hack fallout The crypto market has eased back into familiar territory after a short-lived run to multi-week highs on Friday. Bitcoin briefly touched highs near $78,300 — its strongest level since early February — but is now trading just under $75,000. Ether has also pulled back to around $2,300 from Friday’s peak near $2,460. A key focus for market participants is a “CME gap” left in bitcoin futures. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures closed Friday at $77,540 and reopened at $74,600, creating an upside gap of roughly 3.8%. Traders often watch these gaps closely because past gaps have attracted price action: a similar gap last week was filled before the end of the following Monday. Bitcoin’s price has shown some resilience overnight, gaining about 1.5% since midnight UTC, hinting sentiment may be warming after a volatile stretch. Macro and geopolitical developments added pressure over the weekend. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz halted after reopening on Friday, a disruption that sent Brent crude from roughly $78 to $88 a barrel. The jump in oil and heightened geopolitical risk weighed on broader risk assets — Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures were down about 0.59% since midnight — a headwind for crypto risk appetite. Markets are also digesting the fallout from a recent DeFi hack, which has injected additional uncertainty around liquidity and counterparty risk in decentralized finance protocols. That event, combined with the CME gap and macro volatility, has traders balancing short-term technical setups against lingering risk concerns. In short: bitcoin’s rapid ascent has paused, but key technical levels and the CME gap keep traders alert for potential short-covering. At the same time, geopolitical disruption and DeFi security issues are tempering bullish momentum across crypto and broader markets. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news