Leading cryptocurrencies edged higher Monday, matching the gains made in the stock market.

What Happened: Bitcoin rose to an intraday high of $84,700 late afternoon before retreating to the $83,000 zone due to profit-taking. Ethereum followed a similar trajectory, rising to $1,950 and later pulling back to $1,920.

Bitcoin's market dominance remained above 60% while Ethereum's share dwindled to 8.5% in the last 24 hours.

Institutional interest in spot exchange-traded hands has taken a hammering due to the ongoing cryptocurrency trace, with U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs bleeding more than $5.5 billion over the last five weeks.

Over $168 million was liquidated from the market in the last 24 hours, with short liquidations accounting for over $100 million.

Additionally, if Bitcoin reclaims $87,000, a further $500 million in shorts would be wiped out.

Bitcoin's Open Interest grew 1.32% in the last 24 hours, suggesting an influx of new money into the derivatives market.

Interestingly, the percentage of traders positioned short on the apex digital asset surged to 55%, according to the Long/Short Ratio, suggesting that traders anticipated another dip.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.74 trillion, marking a  1.26% increase over the previous day.

Stocks started the new trading week on a high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 353.45 points, or 0.85%, to close at 41,841.63. The S&P 500 rose 0.65%, ending at 5,675.12, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.31% to close at 17,808.66.

Wall Street has been under pressure due to President Donald Trump's tariff announcements, with the Dow and S&P 500 shedding 6.09% and 7.41%, respectively, over the previous month.

Analyst Notes: Popular cryptocurrency analytics firm CryptoQuant detected a steady deleveraging in Bitcoin's derivatives market, with about $10 billion in Open Interest erased over the past two months.

"This can be considered a natural market reset, an essential phase for sustaining a bullish continuation," CryptoQuant stated. "Looking at historical trends, each past deleveraging like this has provided good opportunities for the short to medium term."

The BTC market is undergoing deleveraging
"This chart highlights such reset phases by identifying moments when the 90-day open interest change turns negative. Historically, each past deleveraging like this has provided good short-to medium-term opportunities." – @Darkfost_Coc pic.twitter.com/8VRH2oVaTD

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) March 17, 2025

Widely followed cryptocurrency analyst "Elite Crypto" stated that for the sentiment to shift from playing the downside to a "potential reversal," Bitcoin must rise over $85,000 and $89,000.

$BTC | $USDT
One good thing is that we are above the 80K support. We should flip the 85K and 89K levels pretty soon to change the current playbook.
If you're wondering what I mean by "playbook," it's about shifting from playing the downside to a potential reversal, which could... pic.twitter.com/D0meUYoyUH

— Elite Crypto (@TheEliteCrypto) March 17, 2025