Crypto market recap: Bitcoin holds near $74,000, Ethereum weakens

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Bitcoin holds near $74,000

Highlights

BTC was trading at $73,999.16, while ETH stood at $2,318.10; both assets were down over 24 hours.
About $547 million in crypto positions were liquidated in a day, including $446 million in shorts.
The ETH-BTC ratio climbed to its highest level since January, while the Fear and Greed Index rose to 23, even though the market remains in extreme fear territory.

Bitcoin was trading at $73,999.16, down 0.4% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum stood at $2,318.10, down 1.9% on the day. Both assets, however, remained higher on a weekly basis, with BTC up 3.4% and ETH up 3.3%.

The Fear and Greed Index stands at 23, remaining deep in the Extreme Fear zone. However, the index is slowly rising, supported by renewed inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have attracted more than $56 billion since the beginning of the year.

The market slows after a short squeeze

The current pause follows a strong squeeze in the derivatives market. Total liquidations across the crypto market reached about $547 million over the past 24 hours, with roughly $446 million of that coming from short positions. Traders betting against Bitcoin took the biggest hit: around $229 million in BTC contracts were liquidated, along with another $136 million tied to Ethereum. Bitcoin itself rebounded from $70,500 to $74,300 during that move.

Liquidation Heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

That liquidation structure matters because it helps explain the speed of the rally. When the market moves higher against a large volume of leveraged short positions, forced buybacks push prices up even further. But once the main wave of liquidations is over, the market often shifts into a calmer phase, which is what appears to be happening now.

Ethereum starts catching up with Bitcoin

The most important shift of the past few days is visible not only in absolute prices, but also in the ETH-BTC ratio. According to CoinDesk, that ratio rose to its highest level since January, one of the signs that the recent rebound is broader than a move in Bitcoin alone. The outlet also noted that the Ethereum network added 284,000 new users in the first quarter, while the stablecoin supply reached a record $180 billion.

That is an important signal for the market. In the early stage of a recovery, capital usually returns first to Bitcoin as the most liquid and defensive asset within crypto, and only later shifts into Ethereum and other large tokens. The current bounce in ETH-BTC fits that pattern, even if it is still too early to call it a full trend reversal.

Indicators still point to fear, but not panic

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index now stands at 23, up from 21 a day earlier and 17 a week ago. Formally, that is still in extreme fear territory, but the index is rising, which suggests that market stress is gradually easing.

That is probably the clearest way to describe the current setup: the market is no longer in a phase where every move lower triggers capitulation, but it is still far from confident optimism. Bitcoin is holding near $74,000, Ethereum remains above $2,300, a large share of short positions has already been flushed out, and the recovery in ETH-BTC points to a cautious widening of demand beyond a single asset. For now, this looks more like stabilization after a volatile quarter than a full return to aggressive risk-taking.

What’s behind the current rebound

The latest rally appears to be driven largely by a technical factor — the forced unwinding of short positions.

Nevertheless, the recovery in the ETH/BTC ratio and Bitcoin’s ability to hold above key support levels may indicate the beginning of a broader market recovery.

Investors are now watching whether this momentum can be sustained or if external pressures will push prices lower again.

Earlier, we reported that Bitcoin nears $75,000 amid hopes for U.S.-Iran deal.

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