By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Cryptocurr $BTC$73,051. A breather 31 and the wider crypto market are preparing for today’s Federal Reserve rate decision, which could confirm that interest-rate backdrop is becoming less of a tailwind.
In the 3 – it is widely expected that the central bank will keep the benchmark borrowing cost unchanged. A quarter-third (5%-3) . The focus is on growth and inflation projections, as well as Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments at the post-meeting press conference – 75% range.
Failing to explain why decision makers expect interest rates to be at year-end, said Sygnum Bank chief investment officer Fabian Dori, who is a professor of financial institutions, “the question that’s the most important thing for investors,” and whether Powell emphasizes being cautious about easing financial conditions too quickly. Neither development would reinforce a ‘higher for longer’ bias and tighten financial conditions at the margin. Paraphrasing ‘It is an important part of my life to be paraphrased.
It’s a critical time, Dori said, when repeat failure to stay above $75,000 signals warning and mean-reversion behavior of bitcoin. In case the Iran war-related oil-price shock is accompanied by an inflationary effect, which should be raised in response to the Fed’s alarm over its impact on inflation and reinforce expectations of slower or delayed rate cuts, then $BTC will likely remain below $75,000.
“A more hawkish stance could keep bitcoin capped below 75k and extend the current consolidation phase,” he noted.
QCP Capital in Singapore said markets have lowered easing expectations as the higher oil price complicates interest-rate cuts, even as growth and labour data soften. The rates backdrop is less supportive for crypto, as this leaves ‘s rate framework weak.
Bitcoin’s stalled upswing stalled comes despite renewed institutional appetite for spot ETFs and regulatory clarity from the SEC and CFTC.
The biggest crypto is still reflected in the wider market, as it remains an important piece of cryptocurrency. During the last 24 hours, it has been mostly stable with similar action in ether ($ETH), $XRP ($XR), solana (SOL) and other majors. While the smallest coins, including SIREN, M and KAS, have increased about 10% each, smaller coins like SIRN, but also some KANS are larger.
futures associated with the S&P 500 index, have increased by 0 in traditional markets. 5%, meaning that it is another two-day rally for a second day and the same thing as . The Dollar Index meanwhile returned to 99. Friday’s high above 100 50, and the 10-year Treasury yield receded to 4. 17 per cent from 4 . 30% paraphrasing. These moves are a point of taken together, to keep risk-on sentiment alive. Watch out!’ .
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to Watch
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
- Crypto
- Nothing scheduled.
- Macro
830 a.m. + March 18, + march 18 – M m is ,. ET U.S. s S February est est PPI MoM . 0. Three percent (prev 3). 0 . 5 per cent); Core PPI MoM est. What is the best way to say ‘Prev Prev’ (Prec)? 0 . 8%) .
+March 18 a 830, m,. U.S. S S. PPI YoY for February est – . 3 . 7 per cent (Prev) – . 3 6.6 per cent); Core PPI YoY est. 3 Two per cent (Prev) 2% (prev). 3 Paraphrasingr 6 per cent) – .
- March 18, 9:45 a.m.: Bank of Canada interest-rate decision est. 2.25% (Prev. 2.25%)
- March 18, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. Factory Orders MoM for January (Prev. -0.7%)
- March 18, 2:00 p.m.: Federal Reserve interest-rate decision est. 3.50%-3.75% (Prev. 3.50%-3.75%); FOMC economic projections
- March 18, 2:30 p.m.: Fed Chair press conference
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- March 18: Bitfarms (BITF), pre-market, -$0.03
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
- Governance votes & calls
- March 18: Jupiter (JUP) to hold its weekly Planetary Call community session with team updates.
- March 18:
THETA
$0.1876
head of marketing and PR to discuss ecosystem updates.
WalletConnect Pay (201626) + walletConnect Network is voting on selecting 50 million WCT tokens as an exclusive rewards budget for a newer, more effective than traditional “Witconnect” payment. March 18 is the last day for voting to be held by .
- $ENS
is voting on a one-time transfer of 900,000 USDC from the
$ENS
Endowment to wallet.ensdao.eth to cover a shortfall in stream payments owed to
$ENS
Labs. Voting ends March 18.
- Unlocks
- No major unlocks.
- Token Launches
- March 18: Katana (KAT) to be listed on Binance, MEXC, KuCoin, and others.
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
- Day 2 of 2: DC Blockchain Summit 2026 (Washington, D.C.)
- Day 2 of 3: Merge São Paulo (Brazil)
Market Movements
- $BTC
is down 0.73% from 4 p.m. ET Tuesday at $73,825.38 (24hrs: +0.11%)
- $ETH
is down 0.44% at $2,307.45 (24hrs: -0.33%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 0.78% at 2,148.73 (24hrs: -0.27%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 6 bps at 2.75%
- $BTC
funding rate is at -0.0069% (-7.5643% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is unchanged at 99.56
- Gold futures are down 0.10% at $4,996.20
- Silver futures are up 0.65% at $80.05
- Nikkei 225 closed up 2.87% at 55,239.40
- Hang Seng closed up 0.61% at 26,025.42
- FTSE 100 is up 0.29% at 10,433.60
- Euro Stoxx 50 is up 1.02% at 5,828.33
- DJIA closed on Tuesday up 0.10% at 46,993.26
- S&P 500 closed up 0.25% at 6,716.09
- Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.47% at 22,479.53
- S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.16% at 32,929.09
- S&P 40 Latin America closed down 3.50% at 3,459.11
- U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is down 2 bps at 4.20%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 1.30% at 6,809.00
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 1.57% at 25,184.00
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 1.18% at 47,595.00
Bitcoin Stats
- $BTC
Dominance: 59.11 (0.15%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03139 (0.1%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 919 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $32.37
- Total fees: 3.08
$BTC
/ $228,857
- CME Futures Open Interest: 115,080
$BTC
- $BTC
priced in gold: 14.9 oz.
- $BTC
vs gold market cap: 4.93%
Technical Analysis
The growth in the number of BTCUSD longs on Bitfinex has stalled. (TradingView)
- The chart shows the number of
$BTC
/USD longs, or bullish bets, on Bitfinex.
- The growth has stalled, with the tally now at 78,470 versus 79,115 early this month.
Historically, data shows that declines in long positions on Bitfinex are bullish for the short-term as it may sound (as opposed to being counterintuitive) *
$BTC
, and vice versa.
Crypto Equities
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Tuesday at $210.23 (+3.40%), +1.77% at $213.95 in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $23.50 (+1.73%), +0.89% at $23.71
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.24 (+0.11%), +0.97% at $9.33
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.68 (+1.94%), +1.02% at $14.83
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.42 (–3.24%), +1.46% at $16.66
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.11 (+0.90%), +0.99% at $10.21
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $9.24 (–0.86%)
- CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI): closed at $40.13 (–0.79%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $132.31 (+5.15%), +1.50% at $134.30
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $39.94 (+0.81%), +1.10% at $40.38
Crypto Treasury Companies
- Strategy Inc. (MSTR): closed at $150.28 (+1.87%), +0.32% at $150.76
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $11.10 (+2.21%), unchanged in pre-market
- SharpLink (SBET): closed at $8.31 (+1.34%), +0.48% at $8.35
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.15 (+6.48%), –0.87% at $1.14
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.21 (–3.20%)
ETF Flows
Spot $BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: $199.4 million
- Cumulative net flows: $56.51 billion
- Total
$BTC
holdings ~1.29 million
Spot $ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: $138.2 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.99 billion
- Total
$ETH
holdings ~5.76 million
Source: Farside Investors
While You Were Sleeping
Following Iraq signs pipeline export deal with Kurdistan (Bloomberg) Brent dropped under $101 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate near $92 was about $92, * Oil comes after the oil is depr. Iraq agreed with Kurdistan for the return of oil exports through a pipeline to Turkey’S Mediterranean port, Ceyhan in Turkey.
In response to the killing of security chief (Reuters) * Iran attacks Tel Aviv with cluster warheads One defiant Iran said U.S. s S And Israel did not understand that the Islamic Republic was a strong political system and had no single person to blame for its own people, nor could it be considered an effective democracy. Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel attacked him .
In the war against U,* Russia is sharing satellite imagery and drone technology with Iran (The Wall Street Journal) Russia has tries to keep its nearest partner in Middle East as it continues fighting for their closest neighbor. s S Israel and Israel in an ongoing, military-economic war that is bolstering Russia militarily and economically.
Thanks for reading Powells comments on oil inflation are likely to guide bitcoin traders
