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Bitcoin dropped below $72,000 amid rising oil prices
On March 18, the price of the leading cryptocurrency fell below the $72,000 level, declining by nearly 4% over 24 hours. The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East caused a sharp surge in oil prices, intensifying inflation concerns.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $71,300. A day earlier, the digital gold tested the $75,000 mark, which was the highest level since early February.
Hourly chart of $BTC/USDT on the Binance exchange. Source: TradingView.
The entire market followed the flagship. Ethereum quotes fell by 7%, Solana declined by 5.8%, and XRP lost 4.3%.
Source: CoinGecko.
Liquidation volume over the past 24 hours reached $389 million. The majority ($335 million) came from long positions.
Source: CoinGlass.
Overall background
The crypto market decline followed another escalation in the conflict between Iran, the U.S., and Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at further escalation. Western media almost completely rule out a diplomatic resolution.
Washington and Jerusalem carried out massive strikes on Tehran’s fuel and energy infrastructure. According to Bloomberg, equipment at the South Pars oil and gas field was damaged.
Against this background, Brent crude approached $110 per barrel, jumping nearly 5% in 24 hours. WTI rose by 2.2% to $97.7.
Additional pressure on digital asset prices came from the U.S. February PPI report. The headline figure increased by 0.7% — more than twice the forecast (0.3%) and January’s value (0.5%).
Core PPI rose by 0.5% versus the expected 0.3%, although it slightly slowed compared to 0.8% a month earlier. At the same time, the figures do not take into account the strikes on Iran and the subsequent surge in oil prices.
The new data make monetary policy easing by the Fed even less likely. The next FOMC meeting will take place on March 18. Investors are confident that the regulator will keep rates within the current range.
Source: CME FedWatch.
Currently, most market participants do not expect changes at least until September.
Source: CME FedWatch.
“Markets have sharply lowered expectations for policy easing — expensive oil complicates the path to rate cuts, even despite deteriorating growth and employment data. For cryptocurrencies, this means one thing: the interest rate environment is becoming not more favorable, but tighter,” QCP analysts noted.
How does the Fed rate affect cryptocurrency prices?
What’s next?
Alphractal founder Joao Wedson believes that if the $69,000–70,000 area fails, a drop below $60,000 is likely in the near term. To invalidate this scenario, Bitcoin needs to rise above $78,000.
GM!
Am I right?If so, $BTC can’t drop below $69K~$70K because, unfortunately, I have to say there may soon be a high chance of seeing it below $60K. But it needs to somehow move above $78K to break this expectation.
Some things seem almost timed, and I’ve been noticing this… https://t.co/weekgtsKdS
— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) March 18, 2026
An analyst under the nickname CW recorded liquidations of high-leverage long positions and warned of a drop to $71,000.
High-leverage long positions on $BTC are being liquidated.
You should be prepared for a drop to around 71k. https://t.co/MkEBhmBBNr pic.twitter.com/z4Dl4zASDx
— CW (@CW8900) March 18, 2026
MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe linked the correction to the macroeconomic calendar and today’s FOMC meeting.
#Bitcoin correcting.
This could be due to the upcoming macroeconomic week with the FOMC Meeting tonight.
Very likely to be risk-off going into that one given that oil has skyrocketed.
Regardless, I think that it's simply rejecting on a resistance and therefore looking for a… pic.twitter.com/HzglfGNHZL
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) March 18, 2026
The expert views the decline as a temporary “rejection from resistance.” He expects the leading cryptocurrency to rise to $76,000–80,000 by the end of the month.
Recall that a CryptoQuant analyst under the pseudonym Darkfost pointed to the return of Bitcoin buyers to major exchanges.
