Bitcoin climbed to a one-month high near $71,800 as investors gravitated toward perceived haven assets amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, while altcoins also showed renewed strength.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization rallied to $71,800, pushing past recent resistance and shrugging off the risk-off mood that has weighed on U.S. equities over the past week. Prices briefly approached the $72,000 mark, a level last reached on Feb. 8 before bitcoin slid back toward $65,000.

Traditional safe-haven assets also advanced during the session. Gold gained about 1.8% and silver rose roughly 5.3% since midnight UTC on Wednesday, while bitcoin climbed around 4.8% over the same period.

The shift toward haven assets comes as geopolitical tensions intensify in the Middle East. Israel said it struck several security headquarters inside Iran, while Iran reportedly targeted U.S. sites in Dubai and Qatar. Equity markets have remained largely unchanged during the same period, lagging the broader crypto market’s gains.

Derivatives markets show rising positioning

Activity in crypto derivatives markets indicates traders are increasing exposure as prices rise.

Global crypto futures open interest climbed roughly 8% over the past 24 hours to nearly $103 billion. Trading volumes also increased, though at a slower pace than open interest, suggesting traders are building positions rather than frequently rotating trades.

Futures open interest tied to the top 10 cryptocurrencies rose broadly, with dogecoin leading the gains with an increase of about 10%.

Funding rates on perpetual futures and cumulative volume delta for major cryptocurrencies — including bitcoin and ether — have turned positive, signaling strengthening buying pressure and hinting at continued upward momentum.

Meanwhile, the 30-day implied volatility indexes for bitcoin and ether remain close to levels seen before the Middle East conflict escalated, suggesting the market is not experiencing panic-driven trading.

On the Deribit options exchange, however, put options for both BTC and ETH continue to trade at higher premiums than call options, reflecting ongoing demand for downside protection.

The most actively traded option over the past day was the $125,000 bitcoin call expiring at the end of March. According to Deribit, most of the activity likely reflects traders closing short positions rather than initiating new bullish wagers.

Block trades showed demand for bitcoin call spreads and call ratio spreads, pointing to moderately bullish sentiment. In the ether options market, traders were active in both call and put spreads.

Altcoins show renewed momentum

The broader altcoin market is beginning to regain strength after nearly a month of consolidation.

Ether has gained about 5% since midnight UTC, with daily trading volumes remaining steady at roughly $25 billion.

Smaller-cap tokens have outperformed the majors. KITE, AERO and TAO posted double-digit gains over the past 24 hours, while tokens such as PUMP and DCR climbed around 6% during the same timeframe.

Market sentiment has also improved slightly. The crypto Fear and Greed Index has recovered from a multi-year low of 5/100 recorded in February to 19/100, indicating that cautious optimism is starting to return to the digital asset market.

Among sector benchmarks, the CoinDesk Computing Select Index recorded the strongest performance over the past day, rising about 7%, while the bitcoin-weighted CoinDesk 20 Index gained roughly 5% over the same period.