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Key takeaways:<ul><li>$105 WTI crude often triggers Bitcoin price corrections, with history showing a 14% to 27% sell-off within weeks.</li><li>The BTC to oil correlation remains uncertain as events like Mt. Gox and the Terra-Luna collapse likely deepened previous crypto bear markets.</li></ul>Oil prices surged to $105 on Monday, reaching their highest level in nearly four years. Historically, this specific threshold has aligned with major Bitcoin (<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) price corrections. However, since these occurrences only took place once in 2014 and twice in 2022, a more granular analysis is required to determine if current market fears are justified.<h2 id="strong-are-105-oil-prices-a-bearish-signal-for-bitcoin-strong">Are $105 oil prices a bearish signal for Bitcoin?</h2>On June 12, 2014, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed above $105 after the Islamic State (ISIS) advanced into northern Iraq and captured Mosul and Tikrit.<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-03/019d4124-de44-7625-ad0a-7d35265575e7.png" alt="Oil hits three-year high above $105: Will Bitcoin crash again?"><figcaption>Bitcoin/USD (blue, left) vs. WTI oil (red, right). Source: TradingView</figcaption></figure>While the price action in the first week was muted, Bitcoin faced a 21% correction in less than 10 weeks, falling to $468 from $600. It would take over two years for Bitcoin to reclaim the $600 level. The next instance would happen almost 8 years later. On March 1, 2022, WTI prices surged above $105 following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-03/019d4124-e164-7873-8f3b-3f6a8b69347a.png" alt="Oil hits three-year high above $105: Will Bitcoin crash again?"><figcaption>Bitcoin/USD (blue, left) vs. WTI oil (red, right). Source: TradingView</figcaption></figure>Bitcoin price faced a 14% correction within seven days, trading down to $38,100 from $44,370 on March 1, 2022. However, the losses were entirely reversed within less than a month, despite oil prices remaining above the $105 level.&nbsp;<h2 id="2022-russian-oil-embargo-s-impact-on-bitcoin-price">2022 Russian oil embargo's impact on Bitcoin price</h2>The most recent instance of WTI oil prices surging above $105 occurred on May 4, 2022, after the European Commission formally <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61318689" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">proposed</a> a phased-in embargo on all Russian oil imports.<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-03/019d4124-e551-75c8-9ded-c25a9ed2e64b.png" alt="Oil hits three-year high above $105: Will Bitcoin crash again?"><figcaption>Bitcoin/USD (blue, left) vs. WTI oil (red, right). Source: TradingView</figcaption></figure>Bitcoin prices faced a steep 27% crash over the next 7 days, and investors endured a much longer bear market as its price entered a 19-month bear market before finally reclaiming the $39,700 level. While oil prices remained below $100 for several years, they returned to triple digits this week.Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/markets/hyperliquid-whale-opens-53m-bitcoin-short-should-traders-take-notice" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hyperliquid whale opens $53M Bitcoin short: Should traders take notice?</a>US President Donald Trump said that his preference would be for the US to control the oil industry in Iran “indefinitely,” <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/stock-market-today-dow-rises-sp-500-and-nasdaq-drop-as-chip-stocks-slide-us-crude-oil-surges-above-100-200033357.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according</a> to Yahoo Finance. While $105 oil is seen as a bearish sign for Bitcoin, three events in 12 years do not prove a correlation.Other factors, like the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/mt-gox-bitcoin-transfer-creditor-repayments-delay-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Mt. Gox exchange liquidation</a> in February 2014 and the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/terraform-admin-sues-jane-street-pins-collapse-on-alleged-insider-trading" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Terra-Luna ecosystem collapse</a> in May 2022, likely caused those prolonged bear markets. Thus, pinning a Bitcoin crash on an arbitrary oil price threshold seems far-fetched.

Oil hits three-year high above $105: Will Bitcoin crash again?

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