Bitcoin’s price resurgence that started shortly after the beginning of the war in the Middle East reached a new local peak earlier this morning at $76,000, where the asset faced some resistance.

Many altcoins have produced even more impressive gains, with ETH climbing above $2,300, and XRP touching $1.60. ZEC and M, alongside SIREN, FET, and HAS, have even soared by double digits.

BTC Tapped $76K

After dipping to $65,600 last Monday, the bitcoin bulls took command of the overall market performance and pushed the asset toward $70,000 by Wednesday. Although it was stopped there at first after the US CPI numbers came out, the cryptocurrency was more persistent and broke above that level on Friday when it even jumped to a ten-day peak of $74,000.

It was stopped there and driven to just over $70,000 during the weekend as the latest developments on the US/Israel vs Iran front unfolded. Nevertheless, they went on the offensive once again as the business week began. In the span of less than 24 hours, the bulls initiated another major rally, driving bitcoin to $76,000 earlier this morning.

This became its highest price tag since early February. After gaining over $5,000 in a day, though, the asset was primed for a correction that pushed it to $74,000 as of press time. Its market cap is close to $1.480 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts continues to struggle below 57%.

BTCUSD Chart March 17. Source: TradingView

ZEC, M on the Rise

Ethereum was stopped at $2,400 this morning, but still trades above $2,300 after a 2% daily increase. XRP sits at $1.50 after a similar pump, and it has surpassed BNB in terms of market cap. HYPE has reclaimed the $40 level after a 3.5% rise, while CC is above $0.15.

ZEC and M have stolen the show from the larger-cap alts, both surging by around 16% to $270 and $1.72, respectively. SIREN, FET, and HASH are up by double-digits as well from the lower caps.

Pi Network’s PI has dumped again in the past 24 hours, losing 10% of value in a drop to $0.18 as of press time.

The total crypto market cap, though, has added $30 billion and is slightly above $2.6 trillion on CG.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview March 17. Source: QuantifyCrypto

 

The post Zcash and MemeCore Soar by Double Digits, Bitcoin Touched $76K: Market Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ March 17, 2026 10:13 am