Bitcoin Steadies Above $81,000 Ahead of U.S. Inflation Report
The crypto market is recovering with bitcoin rising above $81,000 ahead of the U.S. inflation report. The uptick is primarily driven by layer-1 and layer-2 coins, as well as gaming tokens.
- Market sentiment shows "peak fear" on Wall Street, often seen at market bottoms.
- The VIX futures spread indicates expected short-term volatility is higher than long-term, suggesting potential market stress.
- Truflation's U.S. Inflation Index fell to 1.35%, down from over 2% in February, indicating progress on inflation.
- Upcoming Bureau of Labor Statistics report may show a month-over-month increase of 0.3% for February, a deceleration from January's 0.5%.
- A soft CPI reading could lead to expectations for rate cuts starting in June, boosting risk-on sentiment.
- Conversely, a hotter CPI print might hinder recovery, with some analysts predicting bitcoin could drop to $74,000.
Key Events
- March 11: Network upgrade for Horizen (ZEN).
- March 11: U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on stablecoins and CBDC.
- March 12: Mainnet launch of Hemi (HEMI).
- March 15: Mainnet launches for Athene Network (ATH) and Reploy to close its V1 RAI staking program.
- March 17: CME Group to launch Solana (SOL) futures.
Market Movements
- BTC up 2.87% at $81,425.03.
- ETH up 2.84% at $1,917.00.
- CoinDesk 20 index up 3.05% at 2,531.70.
- DXY down 0.38% at 103.44.
- Gold up 0.66% at $2,911.70/oz.
- Silver up 1.12% at $32.49/oz.
- U.S. 10-year Treasury rate down 4 bps at 4.21%.
Technical Analysis
Bitcoin's RSI shows a bullish divergence, hinting at possible upward momentum. Traders may consider long positions due to prices nearing the March 2024 high support level of $73,757.
Crypto Equities
- MSTR closed at $239.27 (-16.68%), up 4.57% in pre-market.
- COIN closed at $179.23 (-17.58%), up 4.09% in pre-market.
- GLXY closed at C$17.46 (-7.32%).
- MARA closed at $13.41 (-16.29%), up 1.34% in pre-market.
- RIOT closed at $7.56 (-9.68%), up 2.51% in pre-market.
ETF Flows
- Daily net flow of spot BTC ETFs was -$278.4 million; cumulative net flows at $35.93 billion.
- Daily net flow of spot ETH ETFs was -$34 million; cumulative net flows at $2.69 billion.