Following Gold and Oil, Bitcoin jumped to $ 7,200 after the US killed a top Iranian General Soleimani in Iraq

By Tsunami 01/3/20 9:52 AM

Bitcoin, Oil, and Gold jumped after a US airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump killed a top Iranian general in Iraq, intensifying fears of conflict in the world’s most important crude-producing region.

General Qassem Soleimani | Photo: Tabletmag

The Pentagon of United States has confirmed tonight that, at the direction of President Donald Trump, the US military struck a convoy near Baghdad airport killing Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the notorious commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force, and his Iraqi lieutenant, who is known by his nom de guerre Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

US Kills Qassem #Soleimani in Baghdad airport #US #Iran pic.twitter.com/r9iYUCZwX3

— AZCoin News (@azcoinnews) January 3, 2020

Soleimani, who arguably was the second most important man in the Iranian power hierarchy, led Iran’s military campaigns throughout the Middle East—campaigns which resulted in the lengthening of Iran’s shadow across Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

This time around, Bitcoin rose in tandem with gold. The shiny metal has just reached its highest level in almost four months, according to Bloomberg.

January is historically gold’s best month, Bloomberg reported. If prices match the average Jan advance of 2.7 % over the past 20 years, they’ll surpass the six-year high reached in September. The metal will approach 1,600 USD by February if it matches the 5.2 % average increase of the past 5 years.

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil price rose up to $69.16 per barrel marking a spike of 4.39 % its highest level since September against the previous close of 66.25 USD per barrel.

In New York, West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was 3.1 % higher at $63.07 a barrel. The contract earlier advanced as much as 4.4 % to $63.84, exceeding September’s levels to the highest since May. Total aggregate volume for Brent and WTI was about 20 times the 30-day average.

In the currency markets, the Japanese yen led other safe-haven assets, with the USD easing 0.4 % to 108.14 yen following the news, breaching several layers of chart support and reaching its lowest since early November. The Euro also dipped to a three-week low at 120.63 yen.

Asian stocks were trading mixed. Benchmarks in Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Australia and some Southeast Asian markets advanced. Overnight, Wall Street rose to new records, boosted by technology stocks. Investors were encouraged by expectations of stronger global economic growth in 2020 and the planned signing of an interim US-Chinese trade agreement.

Bitcoin hit 7.200 USD

Bitcoin is not out of the trend, as it immediately increased by 5%, soaring to $ 7,200 in just a few minutes.

Source: Tradingview

Last year, Bitcoin move plays right into the hands of those who are certain that BTC can act as a safe -haven asset amidst global unrest. This became one of the most predominant narratives within the crypto space when the US-China trade war reached a tipping point back in May. The Bitcoin price surged by a whopping 40 % in only 10 days after Donald Trump imposed a 25 % tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on May 5.

Popular analytic Alex Krüger believes that the fact that the Iran news could push Bitcoin higher is “absolute nonsense.”

Talking heads will soon be discussing how bitcoin is a safe haven and is going up because of Iran. Which is absolute nonsense. Round numbers are there to get run over, in both directions. I have a small long so I’ll be happy if speculators use the narrative to push prices up.

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) January 3, 2020

However, he believes that bulls can actually lead to another bullish move by activating the FOMO effect.

The overall crypto market cap was $1915 billion at press time with most of the top 10 altcoins appearing to miss out on the price action and Bitcoin’s dominance inching higher to 68.4% as a result.