Bitcoin Briefly Tops $74,000 as CEX and DEX Funding Rates Turn Neutral

Bitcoin rose above $74,000 briefly on March 16 before trading at $73,633.85, while Ethereum gained 6.8% to $2,236.33, Coinglass data show. Funding rates for major cryptocurrencies on leading centralized and decentralized exchanges have shifted toward neutral, signaling a change in market sentiment, BlockBeats reports. Funding rates are platform-set fees in perpetual contracts that align contract prices with spot markets through transfers between long and short traders, with 0.01% as baseline—readings above indicating bullishness and below 0.005% indicating bearishness.