The cryptocurrency market is on the verge of a major breakout like bitcoin It is trading at $73,000 and ether (ETH) at $2,250, its highest level since February 4.
If bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, can break above $74,000 with convincing volume, it will likely return to $80,000, which was a support level in November before an eventual collapse in January.
A rejection, on the other hand, would lead to a reversal to a trading range between $62,000 and $72,000, which has persisted for over a month.
But the main story on Monday is not among the major cryptocurrencies, it is the altcoin and memecoin market in particular.
PEPE is up around 20% in the last 24 hours, while BONK and PENGU are also up double digits. However, the “overbought” conditions on the average Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggest that there may be a pullback before any breakout.
Oil remains inflated above $106 a barrel even though the United States is reportedly considering a coalition to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route.
US stock futures are up around 0.5% and cryptocurrency-related companies are advancing pre-market trading. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) recently rose 3% and Circle Internet (CRCL) added 5%. Bitcoin Strategy (MSTR) treasury gained 4%.
Precious metals fell and the dollar weakened, reflecting risk-on sentiment.
Derivatives positioning
- Industry-wide futures open interest has risen more than 8% to $112.34 billion in 24 hours, in a sign of increased risk-taking in the market.
- Open interest (OI) on ether (ETH) and Futures rose 16% and 19%, respectively, leading the growth among major cryptocurrencies. This indicates a strong investor preference for smart contract tokens. OI in bitcoin increased by more than 5%.
- In the case of ether, the OI in monetary terms rose to 14.34 million ETH, the largest amount since September 2025.
- There are signs of speculation in non-serious tokens like : Open interest linked to the cryptocurrency has increased by more than 11%.
- OI growth in most major tokens is accompanied by positive perpetual funding rates and accumulated volume deltas. This combination indicates increasing demand for bullish leveraged plays.
- On Deribit, however, put options tied to bitcoin and ether continue to be more expensive than call options across all time frames. This is a sign that demand for short covering continues despite the market rebound. Broad call selling could be another reason for the persistent put premium.
- In the case of XRP, the $1.40 strike calls and puts are the most popular and together have a notional open interest of $14 million. That’s almost 25% of the total XRP options open interest on the exchange.
symbolic talk
- The altcoin market is in jubilation with the “altcoin season” index reaching 48/100, the highest in just over two months.
- The total cryptocurrency market capitalization, excluding bitcoin, reached $1.1 trillion on Monday, adding about $40 billion in the last 24 hours and $10 billion since midnight UTC, according to TradingView.
- The best performing CoinDesk benchmark over the past 24 hours has been the Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index (SCPXC), which is comprised of ETH, SOL, ADA, and SUI among Layer 1 networks. The SCPXC is up 6.3%, closely followed by the Memecoin Index (CDMEME), which is up 5.2%.
- The AI-focused token bittensor (TAO) lost 3.7% since midnight. This is a consolidation move rather than a decline after it rose over 69% from March 8 to March 15.
- It looks like some of those profits are being rotated into another AI project. which has benefited from a 60% increase in daily trading volume to $195 million, with the token rising 11% as a result.
