Bitcoin slipped below the $70,000 mark during European trading hours after failing to sustain a move above $71,000, as geopolitical tensions surrounding the Iran conflict kept investors on edge. While the broader market struggled for direction, artificial intelligence–related tokens such as ICP and FET stood out with notable gains fueled by retail demand.
The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, traded around $69,500 by mid-morning in Europe after surrendering Tuesday’s advance following a rejection near $71,750.
Since midnight UTC, bitcoin has declined about 0.55%. The drop was relatively mild compared with losses among several altcoins. Privacy-focused coin Zcash slid roughly 4.5%, while decentralized lending token Aave fell about 2.1%.
Traditional markets were largely steady. Gold and the U.S. dollar showed little change, while U.S. stock index futures gained roughly 0.15%.
Market sentiment continues to be influenced by the ongoing tensions involving Iran and Israel, which have injected uncertainty into global financial markets. Mixed remarks from Donald Trump on Tuesday further added to volatility.
Oil markets also experienced sharp swings. Crude prices dipped to around $81 per barrel on Tuesday before rebounding toward $89 during Wednesday’s European session.
Derivatives positioning
Bitcoin’s inability to extend gains above $70,000 has been painful for leveraged bullish traders. In the past 24 hours, more than $220 million worth of cryptocurrency futures positions were liquidated, with long positions accounting for the majority.
Open interest in dollar-denominated bitcoin futures across major exchanges declined to roughly 226,000 BTC from 233,000 BTC. The decrease suggests traders mostly closed positions rather than aggressively betting against the market. A similar pattern has been observed in futures tied to Ethereum and Solana.
However, derivatives activity in XRP has been increasing, with open interest climbing to 1.74 billion tokens — the highest level since Feb. 23.
Across the broader altcoin market, open interest has generally declined in the past day, pointing to renewed capital outflows.
A few tokens stand out. Futures tied to TRON, Conflux and Monero show a bullish mix of positive funding rates and rising cumulative volume delta, indicating active buying in derivatives markets. Most other coins have neutral to negative funding rates.
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility gauge, BVIV, has declined for three consecutive days. Still, its longer-term moving averages — the 50-, 100- and 200-day levels — are now aligned in a bullish configuration, suggesting volatility could increase ahead.
A similar pattern is emerging in ether’s volatility measures. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s volatility gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, has climbed about 4% to 26, highlighting elevated risk in equities that could spill over into crypto markets.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, open interest in bitcoin futures has fallen to about $7.39 billion, the lowest since September 2024. Ether futures activity has also dropped sharply, suggesting institutional demand for the two largest cryptocurrencies remains subdued.
Options markets continue to reflect caution. On Deribit, protective puts for bitcoin and ether still trade at higher premiums than calls, although demand for downside protection has eased compared with early last month. At the decentralized options venue Derive, traders are increasingly positioning for a potential rally above $80,000 while some continue selling puts.
Token talk
AI-related tokens were among the strongest performers on Wednesday.
The token Internet Computer rose more than 8% after securing a listing on the South Korean exchange Upbit. Daily trading volume surged from about $65 million to roughly $267 million as retail investors rushed in following the listing.
Another AI-themed token, Fetch.ai, also climbed, gaining around 6% over the past 24 hours.
Part of the sector’s momentum followed remarks from Jensen Huang, who wrote in a blog post that artificial intelligence represents an industrial buildout comparable to the electrification era.
Elsewhere in the altcoin market, losses dominated. DeFi tokens including Curve DAO Token and Jupiter each fell roughly 6.5% during the same period.
Despite mixed price action, overall crypto sentiment is showing slight improvement. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has climbed to 25 out of 100, moving back into the “fear” category after spending more than a month in “extreme fear.”
The shift reflects the crypto market’s relative resilience since tensions with Iran intensified, with bitcoin and the broader sector outperforming precious metals and U.S. equities since March 1.
