Bitcoin failed to sustain a rally above $87k this week as global monetary pressures eased and mostly traded sideways, stabilizing above $83k.
The total crypto market capitalisation struggled to reclaim the $3 trillion mark lost over two weeks ago, pulling back to $2.8 trillion at the last check.
Overall sentiment improved slightly, with the Fear & Greed Index rising to 31, up 4 points from the previous week, though it remained in the fear territory.
Altcoins fared better, with several high-cap projects posting double-digit gains on the weekly time frame.
Why is Bitcoin down this week?
Bitcoin visited lows around $81,000 and highs of $86,500 this week, barely managing to recover last week’s losses.
At the time of writing, it held weekly gains of less than 1%.
Early week volatility cooled slightly after Fed Chair Jerome Powell addressed inflation concerns during a press conference on Wednesday following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
He noted that recent tariff increases are expected to delay progress in reducing inflation this year but described these effects as “transitory,” meaning they are likely to be temporary.
In light of these developments, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged. Bitcoin briefly rallied toward weekly highs before correcting over the following 48 hours.
Bearish pressure returned on 20 March after US President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated video appearance at the Digital Asset Summit in New York fell flat.
In a 90-second address, Trump reiterated his support for crypto but stopped short of unveiling any new policy moves, disappointing market expectations.
Following Trump’s underwhelming address, $223.13 million in liquidations were over the next 24 hours, with long positions bearing the brunt at $170.71 million.
Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter described the sell-off as a series of “flash crashes” rippling across all risk asset classes.
They attributed the downturn to “sentiment and emotion,” noting that investor confidence has taken a hit as recession fears gain traction.
Will Bitcoin price go up?
Analysts remained mostly bearish regarding Bitcoin’s short-term trajectory with some expecting further correction ahead.
One such bearish outlook came from pseudonymous analyst GDXTrader, who pointed to a dark cloud cover pattern, a classic sign of weakening bullish momentum.
Meanwhile, CryptoQuant highlighted that Bitcoin’s Bull Score Index has dropped to levels not seen since 2023.
The index tracks how many out of ten key indicators, covering things like network activity, investor profits, demand, and liquidity, are flashing bullish.
With the score hovering around 20, it’s another sign that bearish conditions might stick around for a while.
Current market conditions could lead to a deeper correction towards the $77,000-79,000 range, according to analyst CrediBULL Crypto.
In a recent analysis shared on March 20 analysts shared on X, CrediBULL Crypto said Bitcoin saw a “perfect rejection” after testing the $86,000–$88,000 resistance zone, increasing the chances of a move lower.
He pointed out that BTC failed to break through a key supply zone, which could now open the door for a drop toward the $77,000–$79,000 support range.
This area has previously triggered strong rebounds, but if it fails to hold, the correction could deepen further—potentially dragging prices down to the $65,000–$74,000 region in the coming weeks.
Yet some traders were bullish over the benchmark cryptocurrency’s long-term prospects.
One such market commentator was Trader Tardigrade, who told his followers that a multi-year Inverse Head and Shoulders pattern on the BTC chart was “still in play. See below.
Traders view this pattern as a strong bullish reversal signal.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading around $83,455.
Altcoins post modest profits
Despite the market uncertainty, several altcoins had a profitable week even as the total altcoin market cap shrank by roughly 3.4% to $1.15 trillion as of the late Asian trading hours on Friday.
The altcoin season index had also improved slightly from last week, rising three points to 21 as of the last check.
The leading gainers among the top 99 altcoins this week were:
Four
Four (FORM) rallied 87% over the past 7 days to an intraday high of $1.93 on March 21 bringing its market cap to over $690 million when writing.
Its daily trading volume stood at $75.85 million, up over 36% over the past day.
Source: CoinMarketCap
The primary driver behind this uptick is BinaryX’s recent rebranding to Four (FORM), accompanied by a corresponding token symbol change.
This rebranding signifies the project’s strategic pivot towards new initiatives, opening doors to fresh opportunities and potential growth.
The token swap, executed on a 1:1 basis, was finalized on March 19, 2025. Major exchanges, including Binance, have completed this transition, and FORM tokens are now actively trading on these platforms.
Additionally, there has been a notable accumulation of BNX tokens by large investors, commonly referred to as “whales,” amid the token swap.
PancakeSwap
Over the past week, PancakeSwap (CAKE) rose 70%, exchanging hands at $2.77 while its market cap soared to over $811 million when writing.
Its daily trading volume surged to as high as $1.07 billion within the timeframe before settling at $402 million.
Source: CoinMarketCap
This week’s gains came with PancakeSwap gaining serious ground in the DEX space lately.
Over the past week, its trading volume shot up nearly 60%, hitting $14.1 billion, according to DeFi Llama.
That pushed its 30-day volume to $53 billion—more than Uniswap, Raydium, Meteora, and Fluid combined.
The surge in activity also boosted PancakeSwap’s revenue with almost $120 million made so far this year, making it the second most profitable DEX after Uniswap.
A couple of big reasons are behind this momentum. First, Binance is set to delist Tether (USDT) and eight other stablecoins in the European Economic Area by March 31 due to EU’s MiCA regulations.
As a result, many users appear to be shifting their USDT to PancakeSwap, increasing its trading volume.
Another push came from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose tweet sparked hype around meme coins and led to the launch of MUBARAK, a BNB Chain-based meme coin that jumped 270% to $0.213 and is still up over 47% this week.
Toncoin
Toncoin (TON) was up 24% over the past week while its price was hovering around $3.54 at press time.
Its market cap was seated at $8.78 billion with a daily trading volume of over $196 million.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Most of these gains came after news that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who had been under investigation in France for alleged criminal activities on the platform, was temporarily allowed to leave the country and return to Dubai.
The market saw this as a positive sign, easing concerns about his legal troubles.
Since Durov is closely tied to both Telegram and Toncoin, investor confidence bounced back, and TON’s price shot up.
Meanwhile, the altcoin also gained traction after the TON Foundation revealed that top-tier venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Draper Associates, SkyBridge, and others have invested over $400 million into the TON blockchain by purchasing TON.
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