PEPE, BONK outpace BTC price, ETH as “barbell strategy” wins out: Crypto Daybook Americas
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Even as bitcoin rallies, non-serious tokens such as memecoins are emerging as the biggest winners.
Among the majors, bitcoin jumped more than 2% in 24 hours, and at one point early Monday briefly topped $74,300 for the first time since early February. Other tokens including XRP (XRP) and solana (SOL) gained over 4%, and ether (ETH) rose 7%. The CoinDesk 20 Index added nearly 4%.
But the top-performing token among the top 100 over the past 24 hours is the memecoin PEPE, which has surged 19%. Its compatriots BONK and PENGU are up over 10%, and SHIB also outpaced ether’s 7% rise. In fact, five of the day’s best-performing coins are meme tokens.
This illustrates a trend observed since 2023–24. Observers have dubbed it the “barbell strategy:” holding a serious token like bitcoin, with growing institutional adoption, on one end, while speculating in smaller, non-serious coins such as memecoins on the other.
The behavior contrasts with the previous bull market, when BTC rallies tended to lift more productive sectors of the market, such as DeFi and play-to-earn projects.
One possible reason for the absence of a so-called “meaningful alt season” is the flood of new altcoins, which has spread demand across thousands of projects. CoinMarketCap data show the total number of tokens has surpassed 37.8 million in just three years, highlighting the massive influx of new projects.
Some observers are pinning hopes on the Clarity Act in the U.S. to reinvigorate the broader market. Others caution that time is running short for decisive regulatory action.
In traditional markets, S&P 500 futures traded higher even as oil prices tested the $100 level. Nvidia’s GTC conference begins Monday, and CEO Jensen Huang could outline the company’s AI roadmap, an event the crypto industry will watch closely for signals on data center demand. Stay alert!
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to Watch
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
- Crypto
- Macro
- March 16, 8:30 a.m.: Canada consumer price index (CPI) YoY for February (Prev. 2.3%)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- March 16: Bakkt Holdings (BKKT), post-market, -$0.47
- March 16: Bitcoin Depot (BTM), pre-market, -$0.47
- March 16: Cango (CANG), post-market, -$0.34
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
- Governance votes & calls
- Decentraland DAO is voting on whether to allow registered users to customize the color of their avatar name tag and to add a more accessible volume slider to the UI sidebar. Voting ends March 16 and 17.
- Unlocks
- March 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 1.78% of its circulating supply worth $9.65 millon.
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead”.
Market Movements
- BTC is up 2.22% from 4 p.m. ET Sunday at $73,300.29 (24hrs: +2.02%)
- ETH is up 5.98% at $2,259.15 (24hrs: +6.57%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 3.81% at 2,130.70 (24hrs: +3.79%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.74%
- BTC funding rate is at 0.0041% (4.4435% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is unchanged at 100.29
- Gold futures are down 1.36% at $4,983.70
- Silver futures are down 2.80% at $78.65
- Nikkei 225 closed down 0.13% at 53,751.15
- Hang Seng closed up 1.45% at 25,834.02
- FTSE 100 is unchanged at 10,261.99
- Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.67% at 5,678.08
- DJIA closed on Friday down 0.26% at 46,558.47
- S&P 500 closed down 0.61% at 6,632.19
- Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.93% at 22,105.36
- S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.91% at 32,541.93
- S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.16% at 3,584.57
- U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 1 bps at 4.28%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.37% at 6,660.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.45% at 24,504.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.78% at 46,957.00
Bitcoin Stats
- BTC Dominance: 59.22% (-0.29%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03088 (3.24%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 947 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $32.00
- Total fees: 1.97 BTC / $140,987
- CME Futures Open Interest: 111,895 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 14.8 oz.
- BTC vs gold market cap: 4.92%
Technical Analysis
- The chart shows bitcoin’s daily price swings in candlestick format since September 2025.
- Despite the recent bounce, BTC remains trapped in a sideways grind marked by trendlines connecting highs hit on Feb. 8 and March 4 and lows from Feb. 6 and Feb. 24.
- The next move largely depends on the direction in which the range play is resolved.
- A similar price action unfolded in the two months to mid-January and ended deepening the selloff to nearly $60,000.
Crypto Equities
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Friday at $195.53 (+1.19%), +2.72% at $200.84 in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $22.35 (+8.34%), +2.68% at $22.95
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.32 (+6.39%), +3.54% at $9.65
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.04 (–3.17%), +2.42% at $14.38
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.49 (+1.54%), +0.73% at $16.61
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.76 (+2.20%), +3.18% at $10.07
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $8.97 (–9.94%)
- CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $38.28 (+0.83%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $115.38 (+1.05%), +2.88% at $118.70
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $36.62 (+1.05%), +2.40% at $37.50
Crypto Treasury Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $139.67 (+1.70%), +3.10% at $144.00
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $9.53 (+7.93%), +3.04% at $9.82
- SharpLink (SBET): closed at $7.53 (+0.67%), +5.84% at $7.97
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.11 (+19.35%), +9.91% at $1.22
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.18 (+2.61%)
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: $180.4 million
- Cumulative net flows: $56.12 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~ 1.29 million
Spot ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: $26.7 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.82 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~ 5.73 million
Source: Farside Investors
