Stat: 38% of Shitcoins Near All-Time Low, Surpassing Market Levels Post FTX Apocalypse

On March 3, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) breached 99, notching its highest level since January 20 and posting a 0.45% intraday gain. (IG)

On March 3, the GoPlus Chinese community alerted users that North Korean hackers released 26 malicious packages to the npm package registry. Each package includes an install script (install.js) that runs automatically during installation, triggering execution of malicious code in "vendor/scrypt-js/version.js". This code downloads and runs a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) via the same malicious URL, performing actions like keylogging, clipboard theft, browser credential harvesting, TruffleHog secret scanning, and theft of Git repositories and SSH keys. The incident is tied to the North Korean hacker group "Famous Chollima".

March 3: Bitfinex released a report noting that despite intense selling pressure on BTC, the $60k-$62k range remains solid. This signals forced selling is gradually shifting to market absorption rather than a new round of capitulation. Derivatives positioning confirms leverage has fully reset: futures open interest has dropped over 50% from its October peak. Following the escalation of the Iran situation, funding rates briefly turned sharply negative—indicating market sentiment has bottomed out and short positions are relatively large. Historically, such extreme conditions set the stage for a short squeeze rebound if spot demand follows. However, the options market tells a more nuanced story: recent option skew still reflects a defensive stance, with strong demand for downside protection. Meanwhile, quarterly positions for late March show a clear bullish bias, concentrated in the $80k-$90k range.

On March 3, data from HyperInsight shows a whale with the address starting with 0x7c9 incurred two-way losses in its risk-hedging portfolio, withdrawing over $500,000 in funds. As of now, the account’s net value stands at roughly $1.88 million, while its total position size remains elevated at $14.07 million. Previously, the whale held a large long position (~$8 million) in GOLD (Gold Mapping Contract) and SILVR (Silver Mapping Contract), paired with a $6 million “short basket” covering 102 cryptocurrencies—including mainstream assets like BTC and ETH, plus a range of altcoins—in an attempt to hedge extreme risks via arbitrage. However, market trends that day diverged completely from the whale’s projected trajectory: precious metals plunged, while the crypto market staged a partial recovery. Both long and short positions came under simultaneous pressure, erasing all prior gains entirely.

March 3 — Bitget market data shows South Korea’s KOSPI index plummeted 7.25% today, marking its biggest single-day drop since August 5, 2024. Analysts cite U.S. military action against Iran as triggering Middle East tensions. South Korea imports 70% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz; the surge in oil prices has amplified energy risks and capital outflows. Separately, Upbit — South Korea’s largest crypto exchange — has seen a sharp rebound in trading volume. Its 24-hour turnover today exceeded $1.6 billion, up 29.2% on the day.