Crypto Daily 11 Apr: Bitcoin Holds $72K, Fear Breaks Records

Bitcoin has received the macro news it was waiting for, and it barely moved. Friday’s US inflation data showed core consumer prices rising 0.2% in March, below the 0.3% forecast, and Bitcoin climbed from just under $72,000 to $72,400 before losing conviction and drifting sideways. On Saturday morning it trades at $72,885, up a quarter of a percent. The reaction tells the story of this market clearly: the good news arrived, and the buyers did not follow.

Total crypto market cap sits at roughly $2.55 trillion, flat on the day. Bitcoin dominance, its share of that total, stands at 57.2%, its highest level in several years, reflecting how consistently capital is staying in Bitcoin rather than spreading into altcoins. The Fear and Greed Index, a sentiment gauge running from 0 for extreme fear to 100 for extreme greed, reads 15 today. More on what that number means below.

Bitcoin is at $72,885 (around £54,170), up 0.27% in the past 24 hours. This week’s 7.9% recovery from Sunday’s lows traces back to the US-Iran ceasefire announced on 7 April, which sent oil down 16% and triggered the forced closure of around $427 million in short positions, bets that prices would fall, as Bitcoin jumped from $68,800 to $72,000 in hours. Friday’s CPI relief reinforced that move without building on it. Bitcoin has been locked between roughly $63,000 and $75,000 since early February and this week has not broken either edge. The resistance level that matters is $73,868, where every April rally has stalled on a daily close. Below it, $71,780 has held as support throughout the recovery. Bitcoin’s Bollinger bands, which measure the compression of price volatility, are at their narrowest since early 2024. When this indicator squeezes to these levels, a sharp price expansion tends to follow. The direction remains open.

So what: Bitcoin is holding above $72,000 but has not broken out. A clean daily close above $73,868 would change the narrative. Until then, this is a range, and the market knows it.

Ethereum is at $2,249 (around £1,672), up 0.80% in the past 24 hours. It moved higher on Saturday without a catalyst. Its share of total crypto market cap has fallen to 10.6%, the lowest since the 2022 bear market, reflecting how consistently capital is consolidating into Bitcoin rather than spreading across the ecosystem. Multiple network upgrades have not reversed that trend. The one signal pointing the other way: Ethereum’s futures open interest, the total value of active leveraged contracts, has been climbing back toward record highs after falling sharply in late 2025, suggesting leveraged traders are positioning ahead of a significant move.

So what: Ethereum is historically cheap relative to Bitcoin by most ratio measures. That makes it interesting on paper. It needs a specific catalyst to close that gap in practice.

Solana is at $84.69 (around £62.95), up 0.52% in the past 24 hours. Solana is holding above $80, the level that has acted as support throughout the recovery from February lows. Friday’s standout performer in the Solana ecosystem was Jito, a liquid staking protocol that gained over 18% in 24 hours. Liquid staking lets users deposit SOL tokens to earn rewards while still holding a tradeable token in return, and Jito is one of the leading platforms offering that service on Solana. Its move reflected genuine DeFi activity rather than speculative noise.

So what: Solana’s ability to hold $80 while many altcoins have underperformed suggests real ecosystem demand behind the price. Watch that level on any wider market pullback.

Cardano is at $0.249, down 2.48% in the past 24 hours. It is the sharpest decliner among the larger altcoins today, dropping without a clear trigger while Bitcoin held flat. At under 25 cents, Cardano remains significantly below its 2021 highs and has not participated meaningfully in this year’s recovery. The project has genuine technical development and a committed developer community, but the chain’s usage metrics, transaction volumes and daily active users, have not translated into sustained price support.

So what: Cardano losing ground on a broadly flat day for Bitcoin is a pattern that has repeated throughout this cycle. Without a measurable uptick in network activity, capital has no particular reason to rotate here.

The story worth sitting with today is not the price. The Fear and Greed Index reading of 15 means the market has now spent more than 60 consecutive days in extreme fear territory. That breaks the record set during the Terra/Luna collapse of May 2022, one of the most destructive events in crypto’s history, when a failed algorithmic stablecoin erased tens of billions of dollars in value within days.

What makes this run unusual is the gap between sentiment and price. The 2022 record came as prices were actively collapsing. This time Bitcoin has recovered from its February lows and is trading above $72,000, yet the fear reading has barely moved. The explanation most analysts offer is that the bounce has been driven by short covering and isolated macro catalysts rather than sustained fresh buying. Capital is not flowing back in volume. People are not selling at these prices, but they are not buying either. That combination, a price recovery without a sentiment recovery, suggests the market is fragile if any near term catalyst disappoints.

For UK investors, Bitcoin in pounds sits at £54,169. Sterling’s stability this week has meant broadly similar percentage returns to US-based holders, though that alignment will not always hold.

The US-Iran talks resuming this weekend are the most immediate variable. A breakdown would push oil higher, tighten global risk appetite, and pressure Bitcoin toward $71,780 support. A credible extension of the ceasefire could give Bitcoin the conviction to test $73,868 with more sustained buying behind it. That level has capped every April rally and a daily close above it would change the tone of this market.

BlackRock reports first quarter earnings on Monday 14 April. The figure that matters for crypto is net flows into its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the quarter. Strong inflows would signal that institutional demand is rebuilding at current price levels, which is precisely the kind of structural support needed to move Bitcoin out of its range. Weak or flat flows would reinforce the picture of patient institutional money sitting on the sidelines.

The Federal Reserve meets on 28 and 29 April to set interest rates. No change is expected, but the Fed’s language about the inflation outlook matters. Friday’s CPI showed prices moving in the right direction. Watch whether the Fed’s statement acknowledges that shift or stays cautious about declaring the inflation battle won. A tone leaning toward earlier rate cuts would be meaningfully positive for risk assets. A more guarded statement would take back some of what Friday’s data gave.

This is a daily market update for informational purposes only. Crypto markets are highly volatile and prices can change significantly in minutes. Nothing here is financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.

Crypto Daily is Cristoniq’s daily guide to cryptocurrency markets, published every morning.