By Omkar Godbole (All times Eastern unless otherwise noted)
The big news over the past 24 hours is that the world’s most powerful central bank, the Federal Reserve, is unlikely to provide a meaningful bullish catalyst in the short term, and markets have reacted negatively.
As sentiment weakens, capital flows not just from altcoins, but also from Bitcoin and stablecoins, which are essentially tokenized versions of the U.S. dollar.
The Federal Reserve kept U.S. interest rates steady on Wednesday, clearly warning of high uncertainty and offering no hints about the balance between inflation and activity following a surge in oil prices caused by the Iran war.
Bitcoin fell below $70,000 earlier today and is down 1% since midnight UTC, extending a near $76,000 loss earlier this week. The CoinDesk 20 index is following in BTC’s footsteps, as well as major coins such as ethereum (ETH), solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP).
Bitcoin’s dominance has also declined, falling from 59.4% to 58.7% in three days. In other words, its share of the overall cryptocurrency market has declined along with its price, suggesting that even the largest cryptocurrencies are experiencing capital outflows. Traditionally, its share rises during market declines as investors switch to Bitcoin from alternative cryptocurrencies or altcoins.
This time, they are turning to stablecoins. The world’s leading dollar-pegged tokens USDT and USDC’s share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased from 7% to 7.76% and from 3% to 3.35% respectively.
The behavior suggests investors feel safer in U.S. dollar equivalents, which is understandable as a lack of clarity from the Fed leaves financial markets reeling from oil price swings. Energy markets appear to have collapsed, with disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz leading to wild and erratic global energy import bills that will ultimately fuel inflation.
Agency trading platform Nansen said that the market top is still constructive, the bottom is still fragile, and it is still more dependent on liquidity and positioning rather than a broad expansion of confidence.
“Across all themes, the same market structure keeps emerging: capital remains selective,” Nansen research analyst Nicolai Søndergaard said in an email.
He added: “Central banks are no longer the immediate upside catalyst for all cryptocurrencies, institutional inflows are supporting the core of the market rather than the entire risk curve, forecast markets are attracting attention faster than they can build depth, and altcoins still lack the breadth that typically defines true risk stages.”
In traditional markets, the U.S. dollar index was expected to extend Wednesday’s sharp rebound, crossing 100 points, while futures related to the S&P 500 fell, both signs of increasing risk aversion. Stay alert!
Read more: For analysis of today’s altcoin and derivatives activity, see Today’s Cryptocurrency Market
What to see
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- cryptocurrency
- March 19: Deadline for Walrus (WAL) Tusky users to migrate their data.
- Macro
- March 19, 8:30 a.m.: The number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending March 14 is expected to be 215,000 (previous value: 213,000)
- March 19, 8:30 a.m.: Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index in March (previous value 16.3)
- March 19, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. new home sales in January expected to be 730,000 (previously 745,000)
- March 19, 4:30 p.m.: Fed balance sheet for the week ended March 18 (previous value $6.65)
- income (Estimate based on FactSet data)
- March 19: Gemini Space Station (GEMI), after market, -$0.91
Token event
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Governance votes and calls
- The Cratos DAO is voting to extend the current standard period for mobile app rewards by one month to April 30, 2026. Voting ends on March 19.
- Unlock
- Token issuance
Meeting
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
market trend
- BTC is down 0.94% since 4pm ET on Wednesday to $70,240.69 (24 hours: -4.92%)
- ETH fell 0.3% to $2,177.57 (24 hours: -5.85%)
- CoinDesk 20 fell 0.11% to 2,055.04 (24 hours: -4.66%)
- The comprehensive pledge rate of Ethereum CESR dropped by 1 basis point to 2.74%
- The BTC financing interest rate on Binance is -0.0024% (annualized -2.5754%)
- DXY rose 0.10% to 100.12
- Gold futures fell 2.73% to $4,689.99
- Silver futures fell 5.03% to $71.55
- The Nikkei 225 closed down 3.38% at 53,372.53 points
- The Hang Seng Index closed down 2.02% to 25,500.58 points
- The FTSE 100 fell 1.90% to 10,109.91
- The Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 2.12% to 5,615.49 points
- The Dow closed down 1.63% on Wednesday to 46,225.15
- The S&P 500 closed down 1.36% at 6,624.70 points
- The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 1.46% at 22,152.42 points
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 1.87% at 32,312.67 points
- The S&P 40 Latin America Index closed down 0.57% at 3,497.26 points
- The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rate rose 6 basis points to 4.26%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures rose 0.74% to 6,674.75
- E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.78% to 24,625.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.66% to 46,539.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- Bitcoin dominance: 58.68% (-0.25%)
- Ethereum-Bitcoin ratio: 0.03099 (0.22%)
- Computing power (seven-day moving average): 922 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $30.72
- Total fee: 2.62 BTC / $189,559
- CME Futures Open Interest: 117,410 BTC
- BTC in gold: 15 ounces.
- Bitcoin and gold market capitalization: 4.68%
technical analysis
- This chart shows Bitcoin’s daily price movements in candlestick format since the end of 2025.
- Since early February, prices have declined after exploring the upper end of a channel defined by a trendline connecting significant highs and lows.
- A firm break above the upper end will confirm a bullish breakout. Conversely, a break below the lower bound would signal the resumption of the broader downtrend.
crypto stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Wednesday at $202.29 (–3.78%), after closing at $200.38 pre-market, –0.94%
- MARA Holdings (MARA): Closed at $8.92 (–3.46%), -1.01% at $8.83
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): Closed at $14.10 (–3.95%), +0.28% Closed at $14.14
- Core Scientific (CORZ): Closed at $16.35 (–0.43%), -0.55% at $16.26
- CleanSpark (CLSK): Closed at $9.88 (–2.27%), -1.32% at $9.75
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): Closed at $21.58 (–8.17%), -1.25% at $21.31
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): Closed at $8.10 (–12.34%), +0.12% Closed at $8.11
- CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI): Closed at $39.10 (–2.57%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): Closed at $132.84 (+0.40%), –1.12% at $131.35
- Bullish (BLSH): Closed at $38.28 (–4.16%), –0.47% at $38.10
Cryptocurrency Treasury Corporation
- Strategy (MSTR): Closed at $140.56 (–6.47%), –0.89% at $139.31
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): Closed at $10.03 (–9.59%), -1.54% at $9.88
- Sharplink (SBET): Closed at $7.87 (–5.29%), -0.25% to close at $7.85
- Upexi (UPXI): Closed at $1.07 (–6.96%), -2.80% at $1.04
- Lite Strategies (LITS): Closed at $1.18 (–2.48%)
ETF flows
Spot BTC ETF
- Net daily traffic: -$129.6 million
- Cumulative net flow: $56.38 billion
- Total Bitcoin holdings are approximately 1.3 million
Spot ETH ETF
- Daily Net Traffic: -$55.5M
- Cumulative net flow: $11.94 billion
- The total holdings of ETH are approximately 5.79 million
Source: Farside Investors
