Trading

Altcoin rallies have stalled, allowing a whale to lock in $4.5 million in profits from short positions as Bitcoin trades near $70k and Ethereum around $2k. On-chain and technical data show ETH/BTC consolidating below 0.03 with over $500 million in stablecoin liquidity flowing into Ethereum in the past 24 hours, hinting that an Ethereum breakout could trigger rotation into altcoins and a major short squeeze.

Over the past week, Aptos has repeatedly tested the psychological $1 resistance, climbing to a local peak of $1.11 on 25 February before pulling back by 22% in three days. Technical indicators on the daily and 4-hour charts, including a rising triangle and improved A/D and MFI readings, align with a 1‑month heatmap that shows clustered short liquidations between $1 and $1.12, suggesting a possible bullish breakout while traders remain cautious around this key level.

Bitcoin climbed to a one-month peak of $74,000 on Thursday, supported by renewed US buying interest reflected in a sharply higher Coinbase Bitcoin Premium. The move, which coincided with ETF inflows, quickly reversed as the price slipped back below $71,000 by Friday and CryptoQuant's Bull Score Index stayed at 10/100, signaling a continued bear market. Analysts also cited macro uncertainty and upcoming economic data as reasons any optimism remains constrained.

On March 6, HIP-3 on Hyperliquid reached $2.2B in trading volume, accounting for 30.1% of activity on the platform, while the XYZ:CL crude oil contract saw a 140% daily volume spike to $242M. Crude oil, trading above $90 and briefly over $92, has become the fifth most traded HIP-3 asset as whales rotate into tokenized real-world futures and one trader manages a $3.3M short on CL alongside another wallet holding $315M in BTC and ETH longs.

Bitcoin traded in a tight range on Monday as it hovered around $68,198, while analysts assessed nearly $801.87 million of inflows into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the final week of February. Several on-chain and market analysts pointed to parallels with previous cycles, key support levels around $66,000 to $64,000, and contrasting liquidation data at $80,000 and $57,000. These developments have fueled debate over whether Bitcoin will see a short-term correction before any sustained rebound.

Bitcoin briefly traded above $73,000 over the past day, while multiple on-chain indicators from Swissblock and CryptoQuant suggest it may be transitioning out of peak negative momentum. Demand contraction has eased, US spot ETF inflows have turned positive, and selling pressure from both traders and long-term holders has declined, yet resistance zones around $79,000 and $90,000 still define whether this move becomes a lasting regime shift.

Bitcoin recently pushed above $70,000, prompting debate over whether the move signals a new major uptrend or just another step in a long-term bottoming phase. Analyst CrypFlow, in a technical study using multi‑year trendlines and the Stochastic RSI, argues that Bitcoin is forming a major cycle low along a trendline dating back to 2018 and retesting the former $69,000 resistance as support. Based on how long the Stochastic RSI historically stays below zero, the analyst suggests a double‑bottom structure into October 2026 could precede the next full‑scale bull run.

On March 6, 2026, Bitcoin faced renewed selling pressure from short-term holders who transferred 27,000 BTC, worth about $1.86 billion, to exchanges in profit. This wave of profit-taking was the largest since January 14, 2026, a period that preceded a 36% decline in BTC's price. Analysts point to worsening macro conditions, ETF outflows, falling open interest, and a new death cross between the 50 and 200 SMA as signals that Bitcoin may be entering the final downward phase of its current cycle unless it can reclaim the $94,000 level.

On March 6, 2026, trader Michaël van de Poppe stated that Bitcoin’s bearish phase has concluded after observing a pattern of higher lows and stronger technical structure on multiple timeframes. He expects BTC to potentially reach the $75,000‑$80,000 range in March and notes a bullish divergence on the BTC versus gold chart, while Bitcoin trades around $68,291, down 3.7% over the last 24 hours.

In February, the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs while the unemployment rate registered 4.4%, with 7.6 million people counted as unemployed. Labor force participation remained at 62.0% and the employment-population ratio stayed at 59.3%, as long-term joblessness reached 1.9 million people who had been out of work for at least 27 weeks. U.S. crude oil prices also surged above $80 per barrel, pushing gasoline prices higher amid escalating conflict in the Strait of Hormuz.