Bitcoin Holds Above $72,000, But Will It Ever Reach $80,000? Crypto Market in Limbo

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Markets

What to know:

  • Bitcoin is hanging around $72,700-solidly above $70,000 but refusing to show any interest in the $80,000 level that analysts were SO sure would happen. Classic Bitcoin.
  • Equities decided to rise just because Iran “reached out” to the U.S. Apparently, diplomacy is all the rage now. Meanwhile, the Dollar Index is still flexing, up 3.5% since January.
  • The CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 10 indices have gained a modest 3%, while DeFi and computing tokens acted like they had better things to do. MANTRA (you know, the one with the rebrand and token migration) surged because, apparently, new things are always more fun.

The crypto market decided to be “chill” on Thursday. Bitcoin and ether (ETH) each managed to gain less than 1%, as investors took a coffee break after Wednesday’s hype-fueled breakout.

Bitcoin’s holding steady above $70,000 (thanks for not crumbling under pressure, buddy), but it’s refusing to make a run for $80,000. Some analysts are probably crying into their spreadsheets.

Global equities had a little party when news came out that Iran “secretly” reached out to the U.S. about, you know, ending a war and limiting missile production. Because nothing screams “peace” like secrecy and missiles.

And guess what? The Dollar Index took a little dip, but it’s still riding high, up 3.5% since January. Traders are apparently still “thinking” about what the Fed might do next. We’ll see if that means more rate hikes or more chaos-who knows?

Bitcoin typically loves it when the dollar stumbles, and it takes a nap when the dollar’s having a good day. You do you, Bitcoin.

Derivatives positioning

  • Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) decided to wake up, hitting 680K BTC. That’s the most action we’ve seen in almost two weeks. Guess the spot price gains are here to stay-for now.
  • Ether’s OI got a little boost to 13.41 million ether. It’s the highest since January 31, which is… something.
  • Activity in XRP futures? Nah, it’s still taking a nap. OI’s stuck at the same old lows below 1.70 billion XRP. Solana’s SOL futures are equally uninspired.
  • OI in futures for gold-backed tokens (Tether gold, XAUT) keeps falling, probably because gold’s having an existential crisis as crypto keeps going up. It’s not you, gold, it’s the market.
  • Privacy-focused ZEC’s futures are coming back to life. After two months of just hanging around, it’s finally making a comeback. Just like your old high school friend who always says they’re “about to start working out again.”
  • Annualized perpetual funding rates for bitcoin and ether are mildly positive, so there’s still a bit of bullishness. XRP and SOL, on the other hand, are not invited to the party.
  • Bitcoin and ether’s 30-day implied volatility indexes are calm-just like Wall Street’s volatility index (VIX), which pulled back from 28% to a chilled 21%. Phew!
  • On Deribit, put skews in bitcoin and ether options have weakened but stuck around. Meanwhile, higher strike calls are getting some action. Bullish vibes are still alive.
  • Block flows in options show demand for call calendar diagonal spreads on bitcoin and ether. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means. It’s just fancy jargon for “we’re cautiously optimistic.”

Token talk

  • Layer-1 token MANTRA had a makeover-new name, new ticker, new vibe. OM is out, and MANTRA is in. They did a 1:4 redenomination, which helped boost the price by 25%. Talk about a glow-up!
  • That whole “bullish privacy token” trend fell apart faster than a bad reality show when ZEC, DASH, and XMR went into deep corrections. But hey, Monero (XMR) is back, rising by 5.2% since midnight UTC and 9.8% over the past week. We see you, Monero!
  • Crypto majors are still the real MVPs, dominating the market. CoinDesk 5 (CF5) and CoinDesk 10 (CD10) indexes gained 3.1%, while DeFi and Computing Select Indexes barely moved-just a 0.4% and 0.7% rise. Keep doing your thing, crypto big shots.
  • If bitcoin can finally hit $80,000 and stay there, maybe the market will get more daring and start betting on altcoins. But for now, it’s more of a “wait and see” situation.

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2026-03-05 14:39