Bitcoin remains steady above $70,000 amid plans by the International Energy Agency for a record oil reserve release.

———————–Bitcoin rebounded from early-week losses as easing oil prices lifted global risk sentiment, with Asian equities climbing and crude prices sliding below key levels.

The largest cryptocurrency rose nearly 7% from Monday’s lows near $66,000, briefly reaching $71,612 late Tuesday before easing back to around $70,036 during Wednesday’s Asian trading session.

The recovery coincided with a sharp drop in energy prices. Brent Crude fell below $90 per barrel on Wednesday for the first time since the Middle East conflict began, after dropping roughly 11% in the previous session.

A key catalyst for the move was a report by The Wall Street Journal that the International Energy Agency is considering the largest coordinated release of oil reserves in its history. The proposed release would exceed the 182 million barrels deployed in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The plan is aimed at offsetting supply disruptions caused by production cuts in the Persian Gulf, which have removed roughly 6% of global oil output since the conflict involving Iran escalated. The resulting supply constraints had previously pushed global fuel prices — including jet fuel and cooking gas — sharply higher.

Oil prices have become a key transmission channel between the Middle East conflict and global financial markets. Higher crude prices tend to fuel inflation concerns, which can delay interest-rate cuts and tighten liquidity conditions — developments that typically pressure risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

With crude prices falling, some of that pressure has eased.

Bitcoin was trading near $70,036 on Wednesday morning, up about 2.5% for the week. The move from Monday’s low near $66,000 to Tuesday’s peak represented an 8.5% rally over roughly two days, though prices pulled back slightly overnight.

“Bitcoin trading above $70,000 suggests buyers are attempting to break the market out of its recent consolidation phase, but it still needs to demonstrate it can hold that level,” said Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack.

He noted that leverage in the market had cooled before the rally, which may provide a more stable foundation for further gains.

“The key question now is whether bitcoin can remain above $70,000 and build momentum, or whether it slips back into the range it has been trading in for weeks,” he added.

Analysts at FxPro observed that bitcoin has been forming a pattern of higher local lows since late February, an early sign that buyer confidence could be strengthening.

However, they highlighted $73,000 as an important resistance level, where last week’s peak coincides with the 50-day moving average.

The broader cryptocurrency market remained relatively calm. Ethereum held near $2,034, down 0.3% on the day but still up 2.8% for the week. BNB traded largely unchanged around $643.

XRP rose 0.3% to $1.38, bringing its weekly gain to about 1.7%, while Solana edged up 0.2% to $86.42 but remained down 0.8% over the past week, making it the weakest performer among major tokens during that period.

Dogecoin gained roughly 1% to $0.093, maintaining some of Tuesday’s rally fueled by comments from Elon Musk.

Investors are now focused on the upcoming policy meeting of the Federal Reserve scheduled for March 17–18. If crude prices remain below $90 following the potential reserve release, fears of a stagflation scenario that weighed on markets last week could begin to ease.

Bitcoin’s 90-day correlation with the S&P 500 currently stands around 0.78, indicating the cryptocurrency continues to move closely with broader risk assets — meaning any signals from the Fed are likely to influence crypto markets as well.