Bitcoin&#8217;s fear gauge plunged back into &#8220;Extreme Fear&#8221; on Wednesday — the same 
day traders flooded social media with bullish calls following the US Federal 
Reserve&#8217;s decision to hold interest rates steady. Related Reading: Ripple’s 
$500M Raise And Institutional Ties Keep XRP Firmly In Place Sentiment Shoots 
Up Despite Grim Market Signals The Crypto Fear &amp; Greed Index, a widely tracked 
measure of overall market mood, had briefly climbed into plain &#8220;Fear&#8221; 
territory the day before, only to reverse course hours later. Yet traders 
appeared unfazed. According to sentiment platform Santiment, bullish chatter 
on social media spiked hard after the Fed announced it would keep rates 
unchanged at 3.5–3.75%. The platform&#8217;s social media discussion score shot from 
roughly nine to 71 within hours of the announcement. Bitcoin itself told a 
different story. It was trading at around $70,150 at the time of the Fed&#8217;s 
announcement, down more than 4% in the prior 24 hours. 🇺🇸 Today&#8217;s FOMC meeting 
has resulted in the expected outcome of interest rates holding steady at 
3.50-3.75%. There is an expectation that there will be one further cut 
sometime in 2026, and one in 2027. 📈 For now, traders are expecting a bullish 
relief rally in spite of no… pic.twitter.com/oBqLTcv3Ni — Santiment 
(@santimentfeed) March 18, 2026 Traders See Rate Hold As A Window For Gains 
Santiment attributed the surge in positive sentiment to a simple shift in 
trader thinking. The bearish price action tied to the absence of rate cuts had 
already played out a day earlier, the platform said, leaving room for traders 
to reframe the unchanged rate decision as a net positive. Holding rates 
steady, the logic goes, at least keeps the door open for cuts down the road. 
Fed policy has long shaped how crypto market participants read the broader 
economic environment. Rate cuts, in particular, are seen as fuel for risk 
assets like Bitcoin. Reports indicate traders had been watching the Fed&#8217;s 
moves closely throughout 2025 as a potential trigger for a bull run that never 
fully materialized. The S&amp;P 500 has shed 3.70% over the past 30 days, 
according to Google Finance data, adding pressure to an already skittish 
crypto market. Analysts Warn A False Rally Could Be Taking Shape Not everyone 
is buying the optimism. Onchain analysts warned that what looks like an 
uptrend could be a bull trap — a false signal that draws buyers in before 
prices reverse lower. Related Reading: XRP Moves Into ‘Scarce Zone’ As 
Exchange Supply Dries Up Some market observers expect Bitcoin and the broader 
market to stage a sharp rally once equities find a floor. Others made a 
similar call earlier this week, saying on X that a &#8220;massive rally&#8221; is coming 
in the months ahead. The divide among analysts reflects how unsettled 
conditions remain. Social media buzz has spiked, but the fear index says 
something else entirely. Whether the rally traders are counting on shows up — 
or fades before it starts — remains an open question. Featured image from 
Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Crypto Fear Gauge Hits Extreme Level Even As Traders Bet On Relief Rally

A decentralized AI experiment once confined to crypto circles just earned a 
public nod from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, signaling that distributed model 
training may be inching closer to the mainstream. Open Source AI Momentum 
Builds With Nvidia CEO Endorsement Chamath Palihapitiya spotlighted 
Bittensor’s Covenant-72B during an episode of the All-In Podcast, framing it 
as […]

Bittensor Training Milestone Draws Spotlight From Chamath Palihapitiya and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Crypto ETFs lost momentum on Wednesday as bitcoin’s seven-day inflow streak 
ended sharply. Ether followed with notable outflows, while solana dipped 
slightly and XRP remained inactive. Bitcoin, Ether ETFs Post Sharp Outflows, 
Ending Weekly Momentum A week of steady optimism in crypto exchange-traded 
funds (ETFs) gave way to a decisive pullback, as investors hit pause […]

Crypto ETFs Reverse Course as Bitcoin Sees $164 Million Outflow

Bitcoin price dipped under $70,000, but a bull-friendly set-up on the lower 
time frames forecasts a swift rebound.

Bitcoin price tussle at $70K may hint that market bottom is not in

Data shows the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap has been positive for the past 25 
days, a sign that could point toward returning demand from American 
institutional traders. Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Gap Has Been Climbing Recently 
In a new post on X, CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn has talked about 
the latest trend in the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap. This indicator measures 
the difference between the BTC price listed on Coinbase (USD pair) and that on 
Binance (USDT pair). When the value of this metric is above zero, it means the 
cryptocurrency is going for a higher price on Coinbase than on Binance. Such a 
trend implies the users of the former may be applying a higher amount of 
buying pressure (or a lower amount of selling pressure) as compared to that of 
the latter. On the other hand, the indicator being underwater suggests the 
Binance traders may be the ones participating in a higher amount of 
accumulation as they have pushed BTC to a higher rate relative to Coinbase. 
Now, here is the chart shared by Maartunn that shows the trend in the 30-hour 
moving average (MA) of the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap over the last few 
years: As displayed in the above graph, the 30-hour MA of the Bitcoin Coinbase 
Premium Gap fell deep into the negative zone during the asset&#8217;s decline from 
its January high, suggesting selling on Coinbase may have been the driver 
behind the price drop. Coinbase users affecting the asset&#8217;s trajectory isn&#8217;t 
anything new for the market. In fact, since the start of 2024, there has 
tended to be some correlation between the Coinbase Premium Gap and BTC&#8217;s spot 
price. This may be because of the fact that the exchange is the main 
destination of institutional investors based in the United States. Even the 
spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) use the platform as their custodian. From 
the chart, it&#8217;s visible that while the metric was inside the red zone earlier 
in the year, a shift started to occur toward the end of February, with the 
indicator&#8217;s 30-hour MA value flipping into the positive region. Since then, it 
has steadily been going up inside the zone, indicating the cryptocurrency&#8217;s 
price on Coinbase has risen relative to the Binance market. &#8220;The Coinbase 
Premium Gap just logged 25 consecutive days in positive territory, the longest 
streak since October 2025,&#8221; noted the analyst. Bitcoin has shown some recovery 
alongside these green values, a potential sign that American institutional 
entities may once again be playing a role in the market. BTC Price Bitcoin 
surged above $75,000 earlier in the week, but the coin has since gone through 
a retrace as its price is now floating around $70,300. Featured image from 
Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in MMK