NEW YORK, March 28, 2026, 14:08 EDT
Bitcoin hovered close to $66,900 on Saturday, slipping after a late-week downturn wiped out gains that had briefly pushed it above $70,000. The largest cryptocurrency struggled to recover ground, weighed down by a hefty quarterly options expiry and renewed outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs—those funds owning the coin itself.
Bitcoin is back in step with the wider market mood, no longer standing apart. On Friday, Brent crude closed at $112.57 a barrel. Wall Street just tallied its fifth consecutive week in the red as the Iran war stoked inflation worries, sending investors fleeing from risk. “Words alone aren’t cutting it right now,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, with markets still looking for signs the Gulf crisis might cool. Reuters
It was a jagged week for Bitcoin. The price settled around $70,915 on March 23, then nudged up to $71,310 by March 25. From there, losses set in—$68,792 on March 26, sliding all the way to $66,338 the next day. By Saturday, prices were still sitting about 7% below Wednesday’s intraday peak of $71,986, despite a slight bounce.
ETF flows reversed course during the week. According to Farside Investors, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs went from a $167.2 million net inflow on March 23 to outflows of $74.5 million on March 24, $171.3 million on March 26, and $225.5 million on March 27. There was a brief $7.8 million inflow on March 25, but the group still wrapped up the week roughly $296 million in the red.
Derivatives threw another twist into the mix. According to Deribit, its quarterly bitcoin options — which let traders lock in a buy or sell price — close out at 08:00 UTC on the final Friday of each quarter. This time, about $14.16 billion in contracts settled, accounting for close to 40% of the platform’s open interest. Heading into the event, traders had fixated on a $75,000 “max pain” level, where the largest chunk of options would have expired out of the money. Deribit Support
Jean-David Péquignot, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told reporters ahead of settlement that $75,000 might serve as a “gravitational pull” while market makers adjusted hedges. But as macro jitters returned, bitcoin reversed course. LinkedIn
Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.IO, noted that volatility typically remains muted leading up to the expiry. He cautioned, though, that if downside protection continues to outprice bullish positions after settlement, “bearish bets are firmly in control.” Should support give way, bitcoin could tumble toward $60,000, Otychenko said. For her part, Bitget Wallet market analyst Lacie Zhang pointed out that the expiry could strip away a stabilizing factor and leave bitcoin more vulnerable to geopolitical news cycles. TheStreet
The new week opens with a straightforward, if uneasy, backdrop. On Friday, Reuters noted the Dow has now slipped into correction territory—down 10% from its recent peak. The Nasdaq crossed that line earlier. Bitcoin? Even after rallying alongside the dollar in March, it’s still off more than 20% for the year, according to a separate Reuters analysis.
Bitcoin is still trading well below its all-time high of $126,223.18 set in early October 2025. Citi has pulled back its 12-month price target for the cryptocurrency, lowering it to $112,000 from $143,000 earlier this month. “The window of opportunity for U.S. legislation this year is narrowing,” Citi strategist Alex Saunders said, which he believes diminishes the chance of a new regulatory spark or another burst of ETF-driven demand. Instead, the next moves for Bitcoin are likely to be driven by fund flows and developments in the Middle East rather than any particular expiry event. Reuters
