Bitcoin fills CME gap after Iran strike sparks $5,000 sell-off
Bitcoin’s retracement from $109,000 over the past 24 hours capped off a volatile week defined by thin weekend liquidity and sharp reactions to geopolitical stress.
In the early hours of Friday, June 13, the market saw the $1,490 CME gap closed, which formed between the Friday (June 6) close at $105,060 and the Sunday (June 8) open at $106,550.
After slow gains for most of the week, BTC plunged below $103,000 between June 12, completing the textbook gap fill at the 00:00 UTC candle on June 13.
The gap closed after Israel launched targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear and military facilities, sending shockwaves through the broader market. Oil spiked more than 10%, gold rallied, and crypto saw over $1.1 billion in long liquidations.
Bitcoin, which had been drifting near $108,000 just a day earlier, dropped over 5% in less than 24 hours, wiping out its weekend premium and triggering a return to the Friday CME close.
Today’s move confirms a pattern that has repeatedly played out across the Bitcoin derivatives market: CME gaps almost always close. This was the sixth such gap to form this year and the sixth to be filled.
The historical pattern continues to provide huge value for traders who closely monitor the difference between Friday’s CME close and Sunday’s open.
The CME gap closure rate year-to-date now stands at 100% (6 for 6), with an average fill time of 29.2 hours. The most recent gap, however, stood out for taking 98 hours to resolve, making it the longest duration gap fill of the year.
Previous gaps this year have mostly resolved within a day, with many within the first trading session after the weekend.
Gap Date
Direction
Size
Closed
Time to Close
May 4
Down
$1,225
Yes
50 hours
May 11
Up
$1,045
Yes
16 hours
May 18
Up
$330
Yes
5.5 hours
May 25
Down
$830
Yes
0.5 hours
June 1
Up
$775
Yes
5 hours
June 8
Up
$1,490
Yes
98 hours
This week’s delayed gap fill reflected the stretched conditions that had developed across Bitcoin’s leveraged markets. Funding rates were elevated, and open interest was near all-time highs, with longs overwhelmingly dominant across exchanges.
The buildup of risk, especially over a low-volume weekend, made Bitcoin susceptible to a macro-driven flush, and the Israel-Iran headlines proved to be the trigger.
Coinbase spot data shows that Bitcoin hit a high of $110,435 on June 12 before tumbling to a low of $102,746, with the gap anchored at $105,060. This pattern (where the spot market overshoots the futures gap floor) is typical during periods of forced liquidations.
It reinforces how the weekend gap can act as a magnet for price, but not necessarily the exact stopping point during high-volatility moves.
The convergence of spot and futures following major narrative events has become a recurring theme. CME’s Friday settle remains the institutional benchmark, while retail flows and offshore perpetual markets primarily drive weekend trading.
When geopolitical shocks, like the Iran strike, inject volatility, the CME gap frequently becomes the technical focal point for short-term mean-reversion traders and risk managers assessing mispricings.
The continued validity of this pattern, which CryptoSlate previously covered in-depth, shows the predictive weight CME gaps carry.
Traders often employ this gap-filling heuristic as part of a directional strategy, taking positions on the assumption that price will revisit the CME Friday close.
However, this week’s four-day fill emphasizes the importance of timing and risk control: while the target was eventually hit, exposure had to be managed through extended drawdowns and a macro uncertainty spike.
The broader lesson from the past week is that CME gaps remain structurally relevant, even in an increasingly global and fragmented trading environment.
Their persistence reflects the dominance of institutional capital flows in shaping weekly price anchors, and the market’s tendency to revert to areas of untraded liquidity.
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