By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
Cryptocurrency prices are falling as some holders look to take advantage of the midweek rebound to $74,000, while others prefer less risky assets as the war in the Middle East intensifies.
Bitcoin has lost 3.7% in the past 24 hours, holding just above $70,000, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) has fallen 3.5% as momentum from the rally from earlier in the week cools. Bitcoin surpassed $74,000 on Wednesday and is still up more than 6% over five days.
Illia Otychenko, senior analyst at CEX.IO, said the decline reflects selling pressure from short-term traders who bought the rally. “Despite the recent recovery, the belief that the rally will continue remains limited,” Otychenko told CoinDesk.
Meanwhile, derivatives markets are showing increasing pessimism. Funding rates remain deeply negative, meaning traders are paying to hold short positions.
But the underlying demand has not disappeared anywhere. Otychenko noted that stablecoin movements to exchanges recently reached their highest levels in 2026, while Bitcoin ETF spot flows have turned positive.
“This creates a clear conflict in the market. Institutional spot buyers are accumulating Bitcoin, while derivatives traders are increasing their short positions,” he added. “Historically, when spot accumulation coincides with negative funding, it often ends in a short squeeze, where short sellers are forced to close their positions and the price rises. However, this outcome is not guaranteed.”
Geopolitics remains a factor. Brent crude rose more than 22% last week after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and retaliation disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint carrying about 20% of the world’s supply.
“Hormuz tanker traffic is still down 92%, Goldman warns oil could hit $100, and the curve is flattening again as the short term reassesses inflation risk with 2Y falling to 3.51%,” Bryan Tan, a trader at Wintermute, said in a note.
Soaring energy prices are fueling inflationary concerns, prompting traders to reconsider their expectations for lower interest rates. Bond markets are already reflecting this shift, with U.S. Treasury yields rising as investors price in the risk that inflation will remain high.
And don’t forget there will also be the US jobs report later today, which will also feed into the Fed’s interest rate decisions. 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 6, 8:30 a.m.: US nonfarm payrolls for February est. 59K (previous 130K)
- March 6, 8:30 a.m.: US unemployment rate for February is 4.3% (previous 4.3%)
- March 6, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. MoM average hourly wage for February Est. 0.3% (previous 0.4%)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- March 6: Metalpha (MATH), pre-market
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- No major governance votes or calls.
- Unlocks
- March 6: Hyperliquide (HYPE) will release 2.72% of its circulating supply worth approximately $288.77 million.
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is down 1.15% from 4 p.m. ET Thursday at $70,398.30 (24 hours: -2.89%)
- ETH is down 1.58% at $2,055.24 (24 hours: -3.01%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 1.22% at 2,008.56 (24 hours: -3.52%)
- Ether CESR composite staking rate is down 8 basis points to 2.83%
- BTC funding rate is -0.011% (-1.2209% annualized) on Binance
- The DXY is unchanged at 99.23
- Gold futures are up 0.69% at $5,100.10
- Silver futures are up 1.64% at $83.03
- The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.62% at 55,620.84
- Hang Seng closed 1.72% higher at 25,757.29
- The FTSE 100 is unchanged at 10,415.70
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is unchanged at 5,760.30
- DJIA closed Thursday down 1.61% at 47,954.74
- The S&P 500 closed down 0.56% at 6,830.71
- The Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.26% at 22,748.99
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 0.98% at 33,610.00
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed down 3.12% at 7,318.90
- The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is up 7 basis points at 4.15%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures unchanged at 6,804.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures unchanged at 24,905.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures unchanged at 47,804.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 59.47% (-0.02%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02917 (-0.24%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,026 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $30.66
- Total fees: 2.75 BTC / $198,402
- CME Futures Open Interest: 104,755 BTC
- BTC valued in gold: 13.8 ounces.
- BTC vs. gold market capitalization: 4.71%
Technical analysis
- The ratio between altcoins (non-top 10) and bitcoin is expected to close above the 50-week exponential moving average, implying that there is no clear breakout of altcoins from BTC.
- In the absence of clear RSI divergences, we are unlikely to see a sustained rally from the broader altcoin universe.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Thursday at $205.71 (–1.54%), –0.40% at $204.89 in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $22.73 (–6.61%), –0.70% at $22.57
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $8.77 (–5.60%), –0.91% at $8.69
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $15.60 (–5.63%), –0.71% at $15.49
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.00 (+1.01%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.95 (–6.66%), –0.50% at $9.90
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $11.18 (–8.06%)
- CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI): Closed at $39.25 (–4.73%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $105.74 (+0.45%), –0.43% at $105.29
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $35.02 (–4.99%), unchanged at $35.00
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $139.81 (–4.53%), –0.30% at $139.39
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $9.25 (–3.85%)
- Sharplink (SBET): closed at $7.93 (–2.46%), –1.01% at $7.85
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.96 (–10.93%)
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.13 (–7.38%)
ETF Feed
Spot BTC ETF
- Daily net flows: -$227.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $55.7 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: -$90.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.74 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~5.68 million
Source: Farside Investors
