March 16th: Per Hyperinsight data, as the market rallied, the "buddy" account’s 25x ETH long position saw its unrealized profit ratio top 110%. Notably, the account shifted its strategy away from its past months’ pattern of "holding leverage through the entire rally" to taking profits and cutting leverage. As of press time, its 25x ETH long position has dropped to 7,575 ETH, with $1.26 million in profits over the past week.

On March 16, Axios reported that former President Donald Trump is weighing deploying ground troops to seize Iran’s Kharg Island—with the decision reportedly hinging on whether tankers remain stalled in the Persian Gulf. Trump is said to be working to assemble a coalition of nations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, hoping to announce the initiative later this week. To date, no country has publicly committed to joining the alliance. Previous reports have noted Kharg Island accounts for 90% of Iran’s total oil output.

On-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported Wednesday, March 16, that ShapeShift founder and early Bitcoin backer Erik Voorhees bought 1,915.28 ETH in the past 5 minutes, worth $4.17 million. His newly added ETH holdings total $61.65 million, with an average cost of $2,112.19, spread across 22 addresses.

**Crypto Analyst Murphy Breaks Down BTC Options Structure Shifts** March 16th: Crypto analyst Murphy notes that March 20 expiry Gamma Exposure (GEX) shows ~$180 million in GEX near the $74,000 strike, in a long gamma structure. In this setup, market makers’ hedging typically suppresses volatility, pushing BTC to oscillate around $74k—effectively creating resistance at that level. However, post-March 20th (ahead of the next major expiry on March 27th), the options structure has shifted sharply: **Call Open Interest (OI) far outpaces Put OI**, signaling large institutional funds are betting BTC will rally toward $75,000. Murphy expects $75k to become BTC’s new focal point post-20th expiry. Volatility will flip from suppressed to amplified, with resistance near $80k and support in the $65k-$67k range.

**March 16: Middle East Tensions Escalate** U.S. forces conducted military strikes on Iranian energy facilities and plans to launch tanker escorts in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has signaled the conflict could drag on, warning it will retaliate against U.S. regional targets if its energy infrastructure is hit. Maritime risks have spooked shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, driving a sharp drop in transit volumes. Global energy and supply chain stability concerns have intensified rapidly. **Conflict Spillovers Hit Metals; IEA Eyes Reserve Releases** The crisis has spilled over from energy to industrial metals: one of the world’s largest independent aluminum smelters cut output by ~20% due to disrupted raw material supplies, pressuring Gulf region aluminum supply chains. The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced plans to tap strategic crude reserves for the Asian market to ease short-term supply disruptions. If Hormuz shipping restrictions persist, knock-on e

On March 16, former President Donald Trump stated that tariffs were his top decision priority, noting the Supreme Court knew his stance on securing a win for the U.S.—but that the court’s ruling could hand trillions to countries and companies that had exploited the U.S. for decades. The high court’s decision pleased those nations, he added, yet the court itself had acknowledged he retained absolute authority to impose tariffs in another form, and he had already begun doing so. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling that Trump’s trade tariff policy was illegal.