Bitcoin held around $68,000 on Tuesday, March 3, showing resilience after Monday's rally, as global stocks tumbled on renewed Middle East tensions. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell over 2%, gold dropped sharply, and the U.S. dollar strengthened amid risk-off moves.
Following Monday's Bitcoin rally above $68,000 despite initial U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, markets shifted to risk-off on Tuesday, March 3, due to further escalation. Israel launched strikes on Tehran and Beirut, while Iranian drones targeted the U.S. embassy in Riyadh.
U.S. equity indices plunged: Nasdaq down 2.5%, S&P 500 off 2.3%. Europe fared worse, with Italy's IBEX 35 -5.2% and Germany's DAX -4.1%. Precious metals tumbled from recent highs: gold -4.3% to $5,260, silver -7.5%, platinum -11.3%. WTI crude surged 8% to $77/barrel. The U.S. dollar index rose 0.5% to a multi-week high.
Bitcoin traded near $68,000, down just 1% in 24 hours but up 2% from intraday lows around $66,000, within its early February range. Ether, Solana, and XRP recovered from lows despite declines. Altcoins mostly lagged (e.g., ADA, ZEC, DASH -4%), but memecoins (+0.95%), DeFi (+0.71%), NEAR (+13.3%), JUP, and MORPHO gained.
Crypto stocks weakened: Robinhood -7%, Coinbase -5%, MicroStrategy -4%. CoinShares' James Butterfill highlighted Bitcoin's constructive response: "Historically, bitcoin has absorbed shocks... This divergence is significant. The absence of significant liquidations despite rising yields and geopolitical tensions suggests adjusted positioning."
Derivatives stabilized with $15.3B Bitcoin futures open interest and $392M in balanced 24-hour liquidations.
