By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
Bitcoin The dollar is rallying alongside the U.S. dollar, a trend that has been seen repeatedly since President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
The cryptocurrency has gained more than 10% since the outbreak of war in the Middle East over the weekend. Prices almost surpassed the $74,000 mark at one point yesterday and are up more than 2% in the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 Index and major tokens including Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and Solana (SOL) rose 2% or more.
For bulls, the rally is notable not only for its scale but also for the context: it is taking place against a backdrop of risk aversion in global stocks and alongside a strengthening dollar. The Dollar Index (DXY) gained more than 1% this week and hit a high of 99.68 on Wednesday, a level last seen in November.
This combination may confuse many market observers. A stronger greenback generally weighs on dollar-denominated assets like bitcoin, and historically the two have tended to move in opposite directions.
Yet this inverse correlation has been repeatedly called into question since Trump returned to the White House promising pro-crypto policies. Both BTC and DXY rose before and after the election, both fell in March-April 2025. Now both are rallying again.
At the same time, demand for BTC in the United States appears to be strengthening, which is a positive signal for the market. The Coinbase Premium Index – which measures the spread between prices of the Nasdaq-listed exchange and offshore giant Binance – rose today to 0.0227%, the highest since December, according to data source Coinglass. A premium on Coinbase is generally a sign of stronger demand from US investors.
The issue now is whether the cryptocurrency can break into the historic make-or-break zone around $74,000. A decisive breakout would likely boost investor confidence and attract new buyers to the market.
Some traders also monitor the U.S. macroeconomy.
“The US employment situation report for February is scheduled for March 6, followed by the CPI on March 11 and the next FOMC meeting on March 17-18,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Indian stock exchange Giottus.com, said in an email. “All of these are potential volatility catalysts for global risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.”
Other macroeconomic observers remain cautious, noting that the current calm linked to the American promise to escort and insure tankers could prove fragile.
“All it takes is one Iranian rocket for this delicate balance to tip into serious discontinuity. The threat of an Iranian rocket hitting land remains real and is not a situation that can be remedied any time soon,” noted economist Robin Brooks in a blog post. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Cryptocurrency
- Macro
- March 5, 8:30 a.m.: first unemployment claims in the United States for the week ending February 28 (prev. 212,000)
- March 5, 8:30 a.m.: Quarter-on-quarter US non-agricultural productivity estimate for the fourth quarter (previous 4.9%)
- March 5, 4:30 p.m.: US Fed balance sheet update for the period ending March 4
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- March 5: Rumble (RUM), post-market, -$0.10
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- Uniswap DAO is voting on two related proposals to expand v2 and v3 protocol fees to eight L2 networks and enable a new tier-based fee system across all v3 pools. Voting closes on March 5.
- Gnosis DAO votes to award a grant to fund the ongoing support, infrastructure and maintenance of the Revoke.cash security platform. Voting closes on March 5.
- Unlocks
- March 5: Ethena (ENA) will release 2.24% of its circulating supply worth $18.35 million.
- Token Launches
- March 5: Listing of WhiteBit Token (WBT) on Kraken.
- March 5: Limitless (LMTS) will list on Coinbase.
- March 5: Opinion (OPN) will be listed on Binance, BitMart, BingX, MEXC and others.
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is down 0.13% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $72,849.18 (24 hours: +2.42%)
- ETH is down 1.08% at $2,135.84 (24 hours: +3.81%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 1.25% at 2,072.03 (24 hours: +2.75%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate Up 6 Basis Points to 2.91%
- BTC funding rate is 0.0026% (2.8744% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is down 0.12% at 98.99
- Gold futures are up 1.06% at $5,174.30
- Silver futures are up 2.28% at $84.51
- The Nikkei 225 closed up 1.90% at 55,278.06
- Hang Seng closed 0.28% higher at 25,321.34
- The FTSE 100 is up 0.30% at 10,598.92
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.13% at 5,878.37
- DJIA closed Wednesday up 0.49% at 48,739.41
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.78% at 6,869.50
- The Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.29% at 22,807.48
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 0.47% at 33,942.90
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed up 2.26% at 3,619.17
- The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is up 3 basis points at 4.08%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures unchanged at 6,870.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures unchanged at 25,113.50
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 0.18% at 48,710.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 59.78% (0.9%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02938 (0.38%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 999 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $32.09
- Total fees: 3.03 BTC / $215,909
- CME Futures Open Interest: 111,485 BTC
- BTC valued in gold: 14.1 ounces.
- BTC vs. gold market capitalization: 4.88%
Technical analysis
- The Coinglass chart shows daily open interest for zcash (ZEC) futures.
- Open interest refers to the number of active futures contracts at any given time.
- The total rose to almost 1.50 million ZEC, breaking a downtrend line.
- This breakout indicates renewed interest in ZEC futures and higher volatility ahead.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Wednesday at $208.93 (+14.57%), +0.10% to $209.14 in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $24.34 (+17.70%)
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.29 (+7.27%), –0.22% at $9.27
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $16.53 (+8.11%), +0.24% to $16.57
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.84 (+3.53%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.66 (+7.79%), –0.75% at $10.58
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $12.16 (+12.28%), unchanged in pre-market
- CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI): Closed at $41.20 (+8.76%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closes at $105.27 (+5.66%), unchanged pre-market
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $36.86 (+11.29%), –0.49% at $36.68
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $146.44 (+10.37%), –0.30% at $146.00
- Sharplink (SBET): closed at $8.13 (+11.98%), –1.60% at $8.00
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.08 (+37.58%), +1.85% at $1.10
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.22 (+6.09%)
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $9.62 (+15.49%), +0.73% to $9.69
ETF Feed
Spot BTC ETF
- Daily net flows: $461.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $55.93 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: $169.4 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.83 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~5.79 million
Source: Farside Investors
