Bitcoin was trading at about $71,319 on CoinMarketCap as of 4:00 p.m. Korea time, up 0.99% from the prior week, with Ethereum near $2,095. The market also showed a broadly cautious mood as investors awaited a critical read on inflation from the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.
Bitcoin had oscillated within a roughly $66,000 to $71,000 box, with a drop to about $68,000 around midnight following a weaker-than-expected US February payrolls report and Iran-related energy-price pressures. Oil rose above $110 a barrel for a period, but talks of potential strategic petroleum reserve releases by the G7 and the IEA helped ease crude prices and supported a tentative rebound in risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Market sentiment remained dominated by macro uncertainty and geopolitics, with expectations that the Fed will likely hold rates steady at the March FOMC meeting. CME FedWatch showed a near-certain probability of no rate change, while analysts noted that Bitcoin’s price action still reflected its link to broader risk appetite rather than acting as a traditional safe-haven.
Analysts from KB Securities and XANGLE cautioned that, despite some liquidity inflows from institutional players, Bitcoin continued to trade within a limited range and did not establish a clear directional breakout. They also highlighted that the price path would depend on how the central bank outlook and liquidity conditions evolve through the quarter.
Altcoins underperformed the prior week, with only a few of the top 100 coins posting meaningful gains. Pi, HyperLiquid, and Render were among the small group that rose more than 20% week-on-week, driven by events such as Pi Day anticipation, exchange listings, on-chain derivatives activity, and renewed interest in AI/GPU compute infrastructure themes.
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