Bitcoin Rebounds, but Fear Persists as Weekend Approaches

Bitcoin prices rebounded on Friday morning, climbing back to around $84,000 after a significant overnight drop to the $78,000 level. However, the cryptocurrency remains more than 15% lower than its value a week ago. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which had dipped to 10 overnight, indicating extreme fear, has since recovered to 16, but it is still in the extreme fear range.

The broader CoinDesk 20 Index is down roughly 2%, with solana (SOL) being the only major crypto in the green, up by 5% following the CME's announcement to add SOL futures to its crypto platform on March 17. However, SOL is still down by 36% over the past month and well below its pre-November election levels.

The weekend approaches, and while major stock markets and foreign exchange are closed, the crypto market remains open. Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick has previously noted that weekends have not been kind to bitcoin, with the trend being lower prices, often sharply so. Kendrick questions whether risk assets will rally into the weekend, given the recent negative news.

A contrarian view suggests that the bears may be in the riskiest position over the next 48 hours if a deal averting or substantially delaying the tariffs were to be reached. With prices having fallen significantly, a potential turnaround could catch the bears off guard.

As the weekend begins, investors and traders should brace themselves for potential volatility in the crypto market. The lack of a clear direction and the ongoing geopolitical tensions make it difficult to predict the market's behavior over the next few days.