The frog-themed meme coin is today's biggest gainer, followed by TAO, DOT, and BONK.The frog-themed meme coin is today's biggest gainer, followed by TAO, DOT, and BONK.

PEPE Explodes by 18% Amid Altcoin Rally, BTC Tapped $74K: Market Watch

2026/03/16 18:56
2 min read
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After a relatively quiet weekend despite the latest developments in the Middle East, bitcoin’s price surged on Monday morning to a six-week peak of just over $74,000, where it was stopped.

Many altcoins have produced even more impressive gains, including ETH, which reclaimed the $2,200 level, and ADA, which jumped by 10% at one point.

BTC Saw New Local Peak

The previous business week began quite contrastingly to this one, as BTC’s reaction to the weekend developments on the war front pushed it south to $65,600. However, the bulls intercepted the move and helped the asset recover several grand by Wednesday when it jumped to $68,000 after the CPI numbers came out for February.

After a minor rejection at that point, bitcoin went on the attack once again on Friday. It skyrocketed to $74,000 for the second time in the past 10 days, only to be rejected once again. It dipped further to just over $70,000 during the weekend after the latest set of bombings in the Middle East, but managed to maintain that level.

More volatility was expected on Monday morning when most legacy financial markets opened, including oil. Indeed, fluctuations arrived, but they sent BTC higher to a multi-week peak of just over $74,000. Although it failed there and now sits a grand lower, BTC is still up by 8% weekly.

Its market cap has increased to $1.465 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts continues to sit below 57%.

BTCUSD Chart March 16. Source: TradingViewBTCUSD Chart March 16. Source: TradingView

PEPE Soars

Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano are the biggest beneficiaries of today’s market-wide rally. All three have added around 6-8% of value, pushing ETH to well over $2,250, SOL to above $90, and ADA close to $0.40. HYPE, LINK, DOGE, XMR, AVAX, LTC, and XRP are also in the green, albeit in a more modest manner.

There are some double-digit gainers as well. PEPE leads the pack with a notable 18% surge, followed by DOT and TAO. BONK, SHIB, and ZEC are next in line.

The total crypto market cap added almost $100 billion daily and is close to $2.6 trillion on CG as of now.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview March 16. Source QuantifyCryptoCryptocurrency Market Overview March 16. Source QuantifyCrypto

The post PEPE Explodes by 18% Amid Altcoin Rally, BTC Tapped $74K: Market Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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