Bitcoin News: Coinbase Premium Turns Positive as Gold Crashes in Iran War

Key Insights

• Bitcoin news shows Coinbase premium turned positive in March after a 40-day negative streak, signaling US demand.
• Gold crashed 2.5% to 5%, falling to $5,050-$5,170 despite the Iran war failing the traditional safe haven test.
• Bitcoin price held resilient at $68,000 up 3.5% over 7 days as US institutional buyers returned.

Bitcoin isn’t breaking down and is holding relatively well over the past few trading sessions. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin news shows that BTC stayed relatively flat.

Not much movement up or down. But look at the bigger picture: Bitcoin price is up 3.5% over the past 7 days.

Here’s what makes this interesting. Gold dropped hard. Down 2.5% to 5% on March 3. It fell from highs near $5,300 to around $5,050-$5,170. This happened during the Iran war crisis.

War usually makes gold go up. Not this time. Meanwhile, something changed for Bitcoin. US buyers came back. The Coinbase premium turned positive for the first time in March. That’s a big deal after 40 days of negative readings.

Bitcoin News: Coinbase Premium Turns Positive in March

Coinbase Premium measures something simple but always stays on focus in the Bitcoin news column. It compares the Bitcoin price on Coinbase in the US to prices on global exchanges.

When US buyers pay more, the premium goes positive. When they pay less or sell, it goes negative.

For 40 days straight, this number stayed negative. US prices traded below global prices. That meant American buyers weren’t interested. Or worse, they were selling. This lasted through most of January and February.

There were brief green spikes. Feb. 24, 25, and 26 showed small positive readings. Those came during a temporary market bounce. But after Feb. 26, the premium went negative again. The bounce didn’t last.

However, the Bitcoin news on March 2 changed things. The premium flipped positive and stayed there.

Recent readings show +0.0028% to +0.05%. Those numbers look tiny. But the direction matters more than the size. Positive means US demand is back.

This is institutional money. Spot buying. Not retail traders gambling with leverage. When the Coinbase premium turns positive after a long drought, it usually means smart money sees value.

They’re willing to pay slightly more than the global price to get their Bitcoin now. Bitcoin (BTC) price climbed back toward $68,000-$68,300 on this demand.

The March 2 shift wasn’t just a one-day blip like those February spikes. It held. The bounce that followed shows that the premium might stay in the positive territory for a while now.

Gold Crashes 5% Despite Iran War as Strong Dollar Dominates

Here’s where things get strange. The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Iran threatened to retaliate.

Gold did rally at first in this conflicting scenario, creating headlines in the Bitcoin news column. It hit highs above $5,400. Everyone expected it to keep going, led by the safe-haven demand and flight to quality. All the usual reasons.

Then it crashed. Down 2.5% to 7% in a single day on March 3. Fell to $5,050-$5,170. During an active war crisis. That’s not how safe havens are supposed to work.

Two Reasons Combine to Hit Gold Hard As Bitcoin Price Benefits

But what exactly killed Gold’s rally? The US dollar. The Dollar Index (DXY) strengthened to 99.07-99.27. Up about 0.7% to 1% recently.

When the dollar gets strong, it pressures gold down. Dollar strength won over war fears.

Oil prices spiked hard. Brent crude jumped to $77-$82 per barrel. That’s a multi-month high. Gains of 6% to 13% in some sessions. This happened because of Iran’s supply disruption fears.

Higher oil means inflation worries. Inflation usually helps gold. But this time, higher oil also meant the Federal Reserve will have to wait to cut interest rates, at least for now.

However, it seems that despite the Fed rate cut woes, investors are now leaning towards Bitcoin (BTC). Meanwhile, the Fed needs to fight inflation first.

No rate cuts means a stronger dollar. And a stronger dollar kills gold. While, in most cases, it negatively impacts the Bitcoin price, it now seems that crypto and fiat have found a way to coexist.

So gold failed its safe haven test. It went up briefly, then collapsed despite the ongoing war. Profit-taking and dollar strength overwhelmed the geopolitical premium. Bitcoin news showed a different story playing out at the same time.