Bitcoin fell to $68,507 Friday morning, down 3.2% over the past 24 hours and 2.7% for the week, following a familiar pattern that occurred for the fifth week in a row: a de-escalating headline followed immediately by an escalating headline.
US President Donald Trump extended the deadline for Iran to reach a ceasefire agreement by 10 days and said talks were going “very well.” Brent crude fell 1.3% to $106. Then the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was considering sending up to 10,000 more ground troops to the Middle East, and that aid had evaporated.
The broader crypto market lost almost 1% to hit a total cap of $2.4 trillion. Ether fell 4.6% to $2,050, falling back below the level it fought to maintain all month. Solana fell 5.3% to $85.93. XRP lost 2.8% to $1.36, now down 6.5% for the week. BNB slipped 2.3% to $626. Dogecoin fell 2.8% to $0.091. Tron was the only major in the green with an increase of 1.2% per day and 2.4% per week.
Asian stocks fell 0.6% on Friday after Wall Street hit its lowest level since September on Thursday. South Korean tech stocks led the losses, with Samsung and SK Hynix dragging the KOSPI down 2.3%. Taiwan fell 1.2%. The fifth week of war produces the same pattern as the first four, where the headlines leave everyone paused and the underlying trend unresolved.
Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, noted that the cryptocurrency market cap is approaching its 50-day moving average, but still remains above it, which he called a “bullish sign.”
The market “needs to make a quick decision,” he said, “either cross the early February uptrend line or confirm the 50-day moving average as support and break the downtrend.”
The institutional data underlying price action tells a different story than daily selling.
Bitcoin ETFs have attracted $2.5 billion over the past month, according to Bloomberg, almost offsetting all ongoing capital outflows since January. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF ranked in the top 2% of all ETFs in terms of inflows year-to-date. Net outflows of bitcoin from exchanges last month signaled a shift toward accumulation, with investors buying coins and withdrawing them as a hedge.
BlackRock itself offered notable framing this week, saying large investors are focusing on Bitcoin and ether while avoiding the broader altcoin market.
The 10-day extension of the Iranian deadline pushes the next binary event to early April.
