Altcoins get jiggy

Bitcoin, as if stuck in a jar, nudged slightly higher (+1%) today to reach roughly $67.5K. That was as of 7 a.m. (EST).

For the past week, BTC has traded between $65.6K-$71K, according to CoinGecko.

Meanwhile, Ethereum, Cardano and several other sizable altcoins this morning made more significant strides in terms of 24-hour performance.

For example, ETH, as of Monday at 7:25 a.m. (EST), had reclaimed the $2K mark on a 24-hour gain of 3%. Cardano’s ADA gained 2.5%.

Outperforming the big-cap pack was Chainlink (LINK) which rose 3.4% since this time yesterday. LINK, which is the 18th-largest coin, looks to reclaim the $9 mark that had been in place for at least part of last week. Industry members have singled-out Chainlink’s cross-chain infrastructure stack as strategically positioned to benefit from the RWA tokenization trend. 

Perusing the Top 100, a handful of tokens, including MemeCore (M), Jupiter (JUP) and Sky (SKY), have recorded one-day gains in the neighborhood of 5%, CoinGecko said.

It seems like oversold conditions have now rejiggered back toward baseline.

“The perceived strength of the altcoin market can be attributed to a market-wide lack of liquidity,” CoinDesk said of supply-demand dynamics going into this past weekend.

Last week, nearly $300 million exited U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) amidst the war in the Middle East. Two-thirds of that total left the door in all of one single trading day and from just one fund. According to data from Farside Investors, BlackRock’s IBIT this past Friday recorded a net outflow of $202M. Said Decrypt: “Flows turned negative as geopolitical tensions escalated and ceasefire expectations weakened.”

As the war enters a fifth week, investors seem to be hunkering down into a decidedly risk-off posture. Bitcoin late last night looked as if it might sink below $65K.

However, the entire storyline is changing all of a sudden. Risk vessel hatches look like they are being hoisted ajar not battened down.

As of Monday at 8:30 a.m. (EST), the largest crypto was pushing toward $67.8K. Stock futures were trending green as 9:30 a.m. (EST) neared. 

Did President Trump say something new? Indeed he did, just this morning: “Serious discussions” to end the war are taking pace between the U.S. and a “new, more reasonable regime,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, which is his social media media platform. 

Trump used all-caps for only a portion of his statement, seemingly emphasizing the notion that there’s a NEW, MORE REASONABLE REGIME with which his administration is negotiating. (And he referred to the war not as a war but as a Military Operation, with the “M” and “O” capitalized.) 

Trump also said the U.S. will “completely” obliterate Iran’s electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz is not “immediately” reopened.

Brent crude, on track for a record monthly close, has hit $116 per barrel. So far in March, Brent is up 59%.

“The market has all but discounted the prospect of a negotiated end to the war and is bracing for a sharp escalation in military hostilities,” asserted Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights, an oil market research firm (The Guardian).

Adding to a broader risk-off mood is the notion that inflation concerns could prompt the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates, curbing appetites for things like stocks and cryptos, as fixed-income instruments grow in relative attractiveness and with leverage harder to come by.

Last week, as dual tensions wracked risk-taking sentiment, the crypto fund sector saw net weekly outflows for the first time in five weeks as some $400M exited the space, per Cointelegraph, citing CoinShares.

Total worldwide crypto assets under management have fallen to $129B, returning to levels last seen in early February. This current marketplace is “broadly comparable to April of last year, during the initial phase of Trump’s tariffs,” CoinShares said.