Bitcoin traded below $77,000 and extended a weak run. U.S. long-term Treasury yields rose to around 20-year highs, putting pressure on both risk assets and safe havens such as stocks, gold and silver.

On May 19 (local time), blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported that BTC/USD moved near monthly lows and held the previous day’s low, but failed to reclaim $77,000 around the opening of Wall Street.

The key market variable was the U.S. bond market. The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield rose to its highest level since July 2007. The surge in long-term rates increased downside pressure on equities and triggered selling in gold and silver. Spot gold, XAU/USD, fell below $4,500, sliding to its lowest level since late March.

Ole S. Hansen (올레 S. 한센), Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy, cited energy inflation caused by war and concerns about a widening fiscal deficit as reasons behind weakness in long-dated Treasuries. "The market is demanding a bigger reward for holding long-dated bonds," he said. "The market is currently reacting sensitively to oil prices and inflation expectations, Treasury yields, and central banks’ rate outlook, and this trend has pulled gold below $4,500 an ounce," he added.

Geopolitical uncertainty has not been fully resolved. News emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump had cancelled plans for strikes on Iran, but markets did not show a clear relief rally. Trump said on Truth Social that Gulf states must be ready at any time to strike Iran if negotiations fail.

In crypto markets, analyst Michaël van de Poppe cited high Treasury yields and high oil prices as a double burden weighing on bitcoin. He said both factors were not favourable for risk assets including bitcoin, and that the trend would need to reverse for the market to regain momentum.

Caution over the price itself also persisted. Van de Poppe said, "The bitcoin chart doesn’t look good." Still, he said bitcoin was in a very important support zone and that whether the support holds would be key to the short-term trend.

Attention is therefore shifting from a short-term price rebound to macro variables. Bitcoin is holding the previous day’s low, but if long-term yields and oil prices remain high, a broader recovery in risk assets could be limited. If bond yields stop rising and pressure from energy prices eases, bitcoin could secure room to rebound by using support-line defence as a foothold.

The move shows bitcoin is reacting more sensitively to the macro environment, such as interest rates, oil prices and geopolitical variables, than to internal drivers in the crypto market. It also underscored that whether a key support line holds is being read as a signal for a recovery in market risk appetite, rather than as a short-term price move.

Yields on long-dated US Treasuries climb to their highest level in nearly two decades as concerns over accelerating inflation extended the global bond selloff. The 30-year yield rose five basis points to 5.18%, its highest level since 2007, as investors demanded greater… pic.twitter.com/8MbyWFS7l3