Core reason: The escalation of the Iran nuclear crisis triggered market panic, leading to a sell-off of risk assets.

News-driven crash logic
Sudden geopolitical black swan
04:17-04:18, Iranian President's tough statements were released in quick succession, directly pointing to the US attack on nuclear facilities and vowing retaliation, causing the market to instantly interpret it as a potential escalation in US-Iran conflict.
Historical experience: Middle Eastern crises often trigger a chain reaction of surging oil/gold prices → plummeting risk assets, with ETH as a highly volatile asset being the first to suffer.
Market sentiment transmission path
Risk aversion explodes: Funds rapidly withdraw from cryptocurrencies, especially high Beta assets like ETH, and turn to USD/Treasuries.
Leverage liquidation: The funding rate of ETH perpetual contracts was previously high and crowded with long positions, triggering a chain of liquidations that intensified the downward momentum.

Key technical signals
Key support level lost
Before the plunge, ETH was in the 2150-2200 oscillation range, with 1H level support, but declining trading volume indicates weakness in bulls.
At 04:18, a long bearish candle directly broke through 2150, triggering algorithmic trading stop-loss orders and forming a classic technical breakdown where support turns into resistance.
Liquidity gap amplifies volatility
4 AM is a period of weak liquidity in the Asian market, large sell orders can easily trigger a flash crash.
CEX on-chain data shows a large number of stop-loss orders around 2111, forming a liquidity black hole.
Anna's summary
News-driven black swan + technical breakdown caused ETH to flash crash. In the short term, geopolitical risks remain, so caution is needed:
If the US-Iran conflict continues to escalate, ETH may test the psychological level of 2000;
We need to observe whether the support at 2150 can be regained after the oversold rebound (confirmation of resistance effectiveness).
Operational advice: Current market sentiment is sensitive, it is recommended to reduce leverage and pay attention to the situation in Iran and changes in risk appetite after the US stock market opens.