Memecoins outpace bitcoin, ether as 'barbell strategy' wins out

Your day-ahead look for March 16, 2026

Make us preferred on Google

What to know:

If you're not already subscribed to the newsletter email, click here.

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Even as bitcoin BTC$73,568.01 rallies, non-serious tokens such as memecoins are emerging as the biggest winners.

Among the majors, bitcoin jumped more than 2% in 24 hours, and at one point early Monday briefly topped $74,300 for the first time since early February. Other tokens including XRP (XRP) and solana (SOL) gained over 4%, and ether (ETH) rose 7%. The CoinDesk 20 Index added nearly 4%.

But the top-performing token among the top 100 over the past 24 hours is the memecoin PEPE, which has surged 19%. Its compatriots BONK and PENGU are up over 10%, and SHIB also outpaced ether’s 7% rise. In fact, five of the day’s best-performing coins are meme tokens.

This illustrates a trend observed since 2023–24. Observers have dubbed it the “barbell strategy:” holding a serious token like bitcoin, with growing institutional adoption, on one end, while speculating in smaller, non-serious coins such as memecoins on the other.

The behavior contrasts with the previous bull market, when BTC rallies tended to lift more productive sectors of the market, such as DeFi and play-to-earn projects.

One possible reason for the absence of a so-called “meaningful alt season” is the flood of new altcoins, which has spread demand across thousands of projects. CoinMarketCap data show the total number of tokens has surpassed 37.8 million in just three years, highlighting the massive influx of new projects.

Some observers are pinning hopes on the Clarity Act in the U.S. to reinvigorate the broader market. Others caution that time is running short for decisive regulatory action.

In traditional markets, S&P 500 futures traded higher even as oil prices tested the $100 level. Nvidia’s GTC conference begins Monday, and CEO Jensen Huang could outline the company’s AI roadmap, an event the crypto industry will watch closely for signals on data center demand. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Crypto
  • Nothing scheduled
• Macro
  • March 16, 8:30 a.m.: Canada consumer price index (CPI) YoY for February (Prev. 2.3%)
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
  • March 16: Bakkt Holdings (BKKT), post-market, -$0.47
  • March 16: Bitcoin Depot (BTM), pre-market, -$0.47
  • March 16: Cango (CANG), post-market, -$0.34

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Governance votes & calls
  • Decentraland DAO is voting on whether to allow registered users to customize the color of their avatar name tag and to add a more accessible volume slider to the UI sidebar. Voting ends March 16 and 17.
• Unlocks
  • March 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 1.78% of its circulating supply worth $9.65 millon.
• Token Launches
  • March 16: HTX DAO (HTX) staking public beta begins.

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Nothing scheduled.

Market Movements

• BTC is up 2.22% from 4 p.m. ET Sunday at $73,300.29 (24hrs: +2.02%)
• ETH is up 5.98% at $2,259.15 (24hrs: +6.57%)
• CoinDesk 20 is up 3.81% at 2,130.70 (24hrs: +3.79%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.74%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.0041% (4.4435% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is unchanged at 100.29
• Gold futures are down 1.36% at $4,983.70
• Silver futures are down 2.80% at $78.65
• Nikkei 225 closed down 0.13% at 53,751.15
• Hang Seng closed up 1.45% at 25,834.02
• FTSE 100 is unchanged at 10,261.99
• Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.67% at 5,678.08
• DJIA closed on Friday down 0.26% at 46,558.47
• S&P 500 closed down 0.61% at 6,632.19
• Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.93% at 22,105.36
• S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.91% at 32,541.93
• S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.16% at 3,584.57
• U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 1 bps at 4.28%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.37% at 6,660.50
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.45% at 24,504.25
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.78% at 46,957.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 59.22% (-0.29%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03088 (3.24%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 947 EH/s
• Hashprice (spot): $32.00
• Total fees: 1.97 BTC / $140,987
• CME Futures Open Interest: 111,895 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 14.8 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 4.92%

Technical Analysis

• The chart shows bitcoin's daily price swings in candlestick format since September 2025.
• Despite the recent bounce, BTC remains trapped in a sideways grind marked by trendlines connecting highs hit on Feb. 8 and March 4 and lows from Feb. 6 and Feb. 24.
• The next move largely depends on the direction in which the range play is resolved.
• A similar price action unfolded in the two months to mid-January and ended deepening the selloff to nearly $60,000.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Friday at $195.53 (+1.19%), +2.72% at $200.84 in pre-market
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $22.35 (+8.34%), +2.68% at $22.95
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.32 (+6.39%), +3.54% at $9.65
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.04 (–3.17%), +2.42% at $14.38
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.49 (+1.54%), +0.73% at $16.61
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.76 (+2.20%), +3.18% at $10.07
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $8.97 (–9.94%)
• CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $38.28 (+0.83%)
• Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $115.38 (+1.05%), +2.88% at $118.70
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $36.62 (+1.05%), +2.40% at $37.50

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $139.67 (+1.70%), +3.10% at $144.00
• Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $9.53 (+7.93%), +3.04% at $9.82
• SharpLink (SBET): closed at $7.53 (+0.67%), +5.84% at $7.97
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.11 (+19.35%), +9.91% at $1.22
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.18 (+2.61%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: $180.4 million
• Cumulative net flows: $56.12 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~ 1.29 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: $26.7 million
• Cumulative net flows: $11.82 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~ 5.73 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

• Oil tops $106 a barrel as worries persist about global supplies (The New York Times): Oil prices rose and stocks were mixed on Monday on concerns that rising energy costs due to the war on Iran could drive inflation higher worldwide.
• Crypto trading firm Blockfills files for bankruptcy (CoinDesk): The institutional crypto lender filed for bankruptcy after suspending withdrawals, incurring about $75 million in losses and facing a lawsuit alleging misuse of customer funds.
• Middle East war disrupts pharma air routes, risks cancer drugs supply (Reuters): The Middle East conflict has disrupted key air transit hubs and shuttered shipping routes, significantly affecting the movement of everything from medicines to food and oil.
• White House tries to build coalition on Iran to address energy crisis (The Wall Street Journal): President Trump spent the weekend framing the Iran operation as a huge success while imploring allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and resolve a worsening energy crisis.

More For You

Bitcoin's building steam and a $3 billion trigger could make it wild

Your day-ahead look for March 13, 2026

What to know:

If you're not already subscribed to the newsletter email, click here.

Altcoins jump as bitcoin inches toward potential $74,000 breakout

1 hour ago

Trump-backed WLFI passes proposal letting $5 million stakers buy 'direct access' to team

2 hours ago

Fed headlines central bank rate decisions, Gemini earnings: Crypto Week Ahead

3 hours ago

Australian Senate panel backs crypto regulation framework

5 hours ago

XRP climbs 3% past $1.47 as breakout extends on broad bitcoin-led move

6 hours ago

Bitcoin briefly tops $74,000 as ether, sol, ada gains as much as 6% in Monday surge

6 hours ago

Crypto trading firm Blockfills files for bankruptcy

7 hours ago

Bitcoin's price trades above its 50-day average as bullish move gathers pace

7 hours ago

The math behind Strategy’s path to 1 million bitcoin by the end of 2026

Mar 14, 2026

AI developers may not be keen on crypto, but stablecoins are the secret to agentic finance, crypto insiders say

Mar 14, 2026

Wall Street pushes tokenized stocks, but institutions aren’t eager to trade them

Mar 14, 2026

Here is why Nasdaq and owner of NYSE are putting the $126 trillion equity market on blockchain

20 hours ago

In this article

BTCBTC$73,568.01◢2.42%