Bitcoin climbed above $73,300 before stabilising over $72,500, supported by strong spot ETF inflows of about $767.3 million last week and renewed accumulation by large holders. Ethereum, XRP and Solana also advanced, while analysts highlighted extreme retail fear and ongoing US-Iran tensions as key risks to whether this rebound can evolve into a sustained rally.

In a Monday research note shared with Cointelegraph, Bernstein said Bitcoin's recent rebound is being supported by a growing base of long-term holders as US spot ETF inflows and corporate treasury buying reshape the asset's ownership. The firm noted that BTC and ETH outperformed gold and major equity indexes over the past week, while BTC traded around $73,208, up more than 8% over seven days amid Middle East tensions. Bernstein added that roughly 60% of Bitcoin supply has been inactive for over a year, and that ETFs, exchanges and public companies collectively hold several million BTC worth over $200 billion.

According to recent on-chain data, Shiba Inu holders withdrew about 45 billion SHIB from exchanges over the past 24 hours, hinting at growing preference for off-exchange storage. Despite this, overall exchange reserves remain near 80.8 trillion SHIB, while the token trades around $0.0000063 and struggles with resistance at its 26-day exponential moving average.

On 16 March 2026, Australia's Senate Economics Legislation Committee recommended passing the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025, which introduces a licensing regime for digital asset platforms. The proposal would require most centralized crypto exchanges and tokenized custody providers to obtain an Australian Financial Services Licence and comply with existing financial services rules, while regulators and industry groups debate how broadly key definitions should apply.

Bitcoin has climbed back above its 50-day moving average around $71,125 and briefly traded over $74,000 before consolidating near $73,300, a 2.4% daily gain according to CoinGecko. Traders are watching whether BTC can hold above $73,000 and push toward the key $75,000 and $80,000 resistance zones, or if a drop back below the 50-day MA could turn the move into a bull trap with downside toward $62,000 and $60,500. Options positioning and renewed accumulation by large wallets are adding volatility as the market weighs the impact of broader geopolitical tensions.

Meta Platforms stock climbed 3.23% to $633.01 in premarket trading on March 16, 2026, after closing at $613.71 in the prior session. The move followed a report that Meta is weighing layoffs affecting 20% or more of its roughly 79,000 employees to offset a planned $600 billion AI data center investment through 2028, while the company's financial metrics and analyst outlook remain broadly positive.

Ethereum price has moved back above the $2,150 area and is trading over the 50-day Simple Moving Average as traders watch for a confirmed daily close over $2,200. If this level holds, upside targets between $2,500 and $2,700 come into focus, while on-chain data and large ETH purchases suggest accumulation despite extreme fear in sentiment indicators.

On March 16, 2026, Bitwise Asset Management chief investment officer Matt Hougan published a memo arguing that Bitcoin could eventually trade at $1,000,000 per coin under what he calls "reasonably conservative assumptions." He analyzes Bitcoin as a digital store-of-value rival to gold and projects that, if the global store-of-value market grows to about $121 trillion within the next decade and Bitcoin secures around 17% of it, the price target becomes plausible. Hougan also notes that slower market expansion or weaker Bitcoin adoption would pose risks to this outlook.