Bitget UEX Daily Report | Trump’s Ultimatum Threatens to “Blow Up Power Plants”; Hormuz Strait Becomes Global Energy Spotlight; Musk Unveils Chip Manufacturing Plan TERAFAB
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Bitget UEX Daily Report | Trump’s Ultimatum Threatens to “Blow Up Power Plants”; Hormuz Strait Becomes Global Energy Spotlight; Musk Unveils Chip Manufacturing Plan TERAFAB
Short-term volatility has increased, but the medium- to long-term dual themes of energy and AI remain attractive for portfolio allocation.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Bitget
I. Top News Highlights
Federal Reserve Updates
Chair Powell Reaffirms Fed Independence in Volcker Lecture
- On March 21, the Federal Reserve released a pre-recorded video announcing that Chair Powell received the “Paul A. Volcker Award for Public Integrity,” highlighting Volcker’s service under presidents of both parties and underscoring that “nonpartisan, apolitical service is the bedrock of the Fed.”
- This comes amid external pressure from the White House on interest-rate policy; Powell used the occasion to subtly push back against political interference, emphasizing that sound decision-making requires “courage and a long-term perspective.”
- Market impact: Reinforces investor confidence in Fed independence, alleviates recent uncertainty around rate decisions, and provides short-term support for stable risk-asset pricing.
Global Commodities
Trump Issues 48-Hour Ultimatum to Iran; Strait of Hormuz Becomes Global Energy Flashpoint
- On March 21, Trump demanded Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to bomb power plants if it refused. Iran responded with four countermeasures, including full closure of the strait and attacks on infrastructure in Israel and countries hosting U.S. military bases.
- Goldman Sachs warns: Markets have fully priced in an “inflation shock” but not yet a “growth recession” triggered by elevated energy costs. LNG shipments from the Persian Gulf face a potential 10-day supply disruption; Asian spot LNG prices have doubled to $23/MMBtu.
- Market impact: Rising risk of energy supply disruption pushes up oil and gas prices, strains global supply chains, and delivers short-term upside for energy stocks—while amplifying recession concerns.
II. Market Recap
Commodities & FX Performance
- Spot Gold: Down ~3.3%, trading at ~$4,340/oz, entering a consolidation range above $4,300/oz. Geopolitical tensions-driven safe-haven demand has faded rapidly; concurrent stagflation fears driven by high oil prices reinforce the Fed’s hawkish stance, significantly diminishing gold’s appeal. After sharp near-term corrections, gold is expected to trade weakly sideways.
- Spot Silver: Down ~3.8%, trading at ~$65.50/oz, exhibiting higher volatility. Its relatively large industrial-use component leaves it doubly pressured by global growth slowdown expectations and supply-chain disruptions, tracking gold lower.
- WTI Crude: Down ~0.11%, trading at ~$98.30/bbl. Although Strait-of-Hormuz risks persist, easing signals during the ultimatum period have partially alleviated supply concerns, increasing profit-taking pressure at elevated levels.
- Brent Crude: Down ~0.17%, trading at ~$106.00/bbl. As the international benchmark, Brent remains sensitive to Middle East developments; energy costs remain elevated, though gains have notably narrowed.
- U.S. Dollar Index: Up 0.18%, trading at ~99.67. The Fed’s reaffirmation of independence eases concerns about political interference, while persistent inflation expectations continue supporting long-end yields—limiting further downside.
Core Driver: According to Cinda Futures, gold’s current price action centers on how rising energy prices re-anchor rate expectations. With ongoing Middle East conflict sustaining crude prices—Brent futures having held above $100/bbl—the market’s concern over inflation stickiness has intensified. Consequently, investors are adopting a more cautious view on the path of inflation decline, weakening rate-cut pricing and pushing the dollar higher—exerting downward pressure on gold. Meanwhile, although recent soft labor data was supportive, inflation expectations fueled by energy costs are offsetting this tailwind, rendering gold’s financial attributes temporarily bearish. On policy, markets broadly anticipate the Fed will hold rates steady for a second consecutive meeting—but the critical variable is forward guidance on the rate path, particularly Powell’s assessment of inflation and geopolitical risks, which will directly shape market expectations for future easing timing.
Cryptocurrencies
- BTC: Down ~1.58% over 24 hours, trading at $67,850.
- ETH: Down ~1.73% over 24 hours, trading at ~$2,050.
- Total Crypto Market Cap: Down ~1.5% over 24 hours, at ~$2.41 trillion.
- Liquidations: ~$333 million liquidated in 24 hours—~$241 million longs, ~$92 million shorts.
- Bitget BTC/USDT Liquidation Map: Current price ~$67,600. Long liquidations below this level have significantly diminished, whereas heavy short leverage clusters exist between $68,500–$70,000. A short-term upward “short squeeze” is thus more likely. If price sustains above $67,000 and breaks above $68,500, it could trigger a broader short squeeze rally.
Core Driver: With Trump’s 48-hour Iran ultimatum nearing its conclusion, markets are shifting toward “de-escalation” and partial relief from inflation concerns—causing high-beta risk assets to retreat. Combined with the Fed’s continued hawkish rate path and sustained ETF outflows, short-term sentiment remains subdued. However, Bitcoin’s dominance remains stable, and strong support persists in the $65,000–$67,000 zone. Investors should closely monitor post-deadline developments, Fed commentary, and shifts in ETF flows.
U.S. Equity Index Performance
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down 0.96% at 45,577.47—fourth consecutive weekly decline.
- S&P 500: Down 1.51% at 6,506.48—the lowest close since September 2025.
- Nasdaq Composite: Down 2.01% at 21,647.61—dragged down by broad tech-sector weakness.
Tech Giants’ Moves
- NVIDIA (NVDA): Down 3.28% to $172.70. AI agent and next-gen product order visibility exceeds $1 trillion, providing robust long-term fundamentals that partially cushion recent pullbacks.
- Apple (AAPL): Down 0.39% to $247.99. Demonstrates strong defensive characteristics, holding up relatively well amid broad tech selloffs.
- Alphabet (GOOGL): Down 2.27% to ~$301.00. Dragged lower by overall risk-aversion.
- Microsoft (MSFT): Down 1.84% to $381.87. Cloud and AI businesses remain solid but insufficient to fully insulate against sector-wide selling.
- Amazon (AMZN): Down 1.62% to $205.37. Dual drivers of e-commerce and cloud services provide comparatively better resilience.
- Meta (META): Down 2.15% to $593.66. Zuckerberg’s push into CEO-level AI agent projects strengthens AI application narratives.
- Tesla (TSLA): Down 3.24% to $367.96. Musk’s TeraFab chip factory initiative boosts in-house capabilities and long-term ecosystem expectations.
Sector Rotation Watch
Optical Communications Sector Leads Declines
- Key stock: Applied Optoelectronics down 14.11%
- Catalyst: Geopolitical tensions + supply-chain worries drive down risk appetite
Memory Stocks Retreat Collectively
- Key stocks: SanDisk down 8.08%, Western Digital down 7.52%
- Catalyst: While AI demand remains strong, macro and geopolitical headwinds dominate near term; markets await confirmation of long-term contracts.
III. In-Depth Stock Analysis
1. NVIDIA – Jensen Huang’s Declaration of the Agent Era
Event Summary: At GTC26, Huang announced NVIDIA’s order visibility has surpassed $1 trillion, marking AI’s third inflection point—the Agent Era—in which every engineer will manage 100 agents and tokens will become new productivity tools. A $50-trillion physical-AI blue ocean awaits unlocking.
Market Interpretation: Institutions widely expect explosive compute demand, with long-term growth highly certain.
Investment Takeaway: As AI shifts from models to agent-based applications, NVIDIA’s core position strengthens further. Investors should consider opportunities across the related supply chain.
2. Tesla – Musk Announces TeraFab Superchip Factory
Event Summary: On March 21, Musk announced the launch of the TeraFab initiative, targeting 1 terawatt of annual capacity—50x current global capacity—with 80% dedicated to space missions and jointly led by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI—potentially the largest manufacturing project in history.
Market Interpretation: Analysts view this as critical industrial backing for SpaceX’s anticipated summer IPO and its $1.75-trillion valuation.
Investment Takeaway: Enhanced in-house chip capability will accelerate AI–space synergies, boosting Tesla’s ecosystem valuation long term.
3. Micron Technology – Barclays Doubles Down on Forecast
Event Summary: Micron’s earnings guidance exceeded expectations; Barclays raised its price target to $675 and forecasts EPS exceeding $100 in FY2027—far above consensus of $54—driven by AI-fueled HBM demand and acute supply shortages.
Market Interpretation: The memory cycle is undergoing a historic re-rating, with gross margins and cash flow surging.
Investment Takeaway: HBM adoption and long-term contract mechanisms will serve as key catalysts; investors should assess allocation value at this cyclical inflection point.
4. Amazon – Secretly Developing an AI Smartphone
Event Summary: Sources reveal Amazon is secretly developing a smartphone aiming to reshape app-store economics via AI.
Market Interpretation: Cloud giants expanding into consumer hardware reinforces closed-ecosystem strategies.
Investment Takeaway: Accelerating AI hardwareization opens new growth avenues for Amazon in smartphones.
5. XPeng Motors – IRON Humanoid Robot Mass Production Plan
Event Summary: XPeng Chairman He Xiaopeng announced IRON humanoid robots will enter mass production by end-2026, targeting monthly output of over 1,000 units powered by three Turing AI chips; Q4 marked first-ever profitability, with record-high gross margin.
Market Interpretation: Dual drivers—humanoid robotics and intelligent driving—create a clear, differentiated path to profitability.
Investment Takeaway: With AI-powered vehicles poised for overseas expansion and L4 autonomy nearing mass rollout, watch for valuation re-rating driven by commercialization of technology.
IV. Cryptocurrency Project Updates
1. According to CoinDesk analysis, Ethereum faces a make-or-break moment amid mounting pressures from scaling challenges, quantum computing, and AI. During Q1 2026, the Ethereum ecosystem confronts multiple structural stresses. Vitalik Buterin sharply criticized Layer 2 scaling paths early this year, noting many rollup designs rely on centralized components and isolated environments—failing to inherit mainnet security guarantees, thereby fragmenting the ecosystem and creating inconsistent security assumptions. Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation has incorporated quantum-resistance into its near-term roadmap, advancing research into LeanVM and post-quantum signature schemes. Internally, Tomasz Stańczak, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, stepped down after roughly one year—a move viewed as signaling internal reprioritization. Additionally, the Foundation is accelerating decentralized AI research, positioning Ethereum as the “trust layer” for AI systems—verifying outputs, coordinating agents, and enabling machine-to-machine economic activity.
2. NYSE Arca and NYSE American—both subsidiaries of the New York Stock Exchange—have filed rule changes with the SEC to eliminate the 25,000-contract position and exercise limits for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF options. The SEC waived the standard 30-day waiting period for both filings, making the changes effective immediately upon submission—marking full alignment across major U.S. options exchanges.
3. Yesterday, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor again posted updates regarding the Bitcoin Tracker, writing: “The Orange March Continues.” Per historical pattern, MicroStrategy discloses Bitcoin purchases the day after such announcements.
4. Data: Tokens including H, XPL, and JUP face major unlocks this week—H alone accounts for ~$10.2 million in unlocked value.
5. According to Coindesk, Bitcoin mining economics are deteriorating further: average per-BTC production cost stands at ~$88,000, while Bitcoin trades at ~$69,200—translating to ~$19,000 loss per coin, or ~21% overall loss. Concurrently, network difficulty declined ~7.8%—the second-largest drop of 2026—reflecting hash-rate attrition and rising network stress. Hash rate has fallen to ~920 EH/s, with average block time extending beyond 12 minutes.
Analysis suggests rising energy costs—exacerbated by Middle East tensions—are further inflating mining expenses. Continued electricity-cost pressure may force miners to sell Bitcoin to fund operations, adding potential downside pressure on spot markets. Should Bitcoin remain below cost and difficulty continue declining, miner capitulation may persist—exerting short-term structural pressure on the spot market.
V. Today’s Market Calendar
Data Release Schedule
Time Country/Region Data Name Market Impact
| TBD | U.S. | Construction Spending Data, etc. | ⭐⭐ |
Key Event Preview
- Event: Expiration of Trump’s 48-hour Iran ultimatum—monitor Strait-of-Hormuz navigation resumption and tanker activity
Institutional Views:
Recent reports from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan highlight that the Middle East conflict has entered its third week. If oil prices remain elevated—potentially pushing Brent beyond all-time highs—global GDP growth in H1 could be dragged down by 0.6%. Markets are currently pricing only “inflation,” not yet “recession.” Institutions recommend shifting toward defensive allocations. Gold may command a 5–10% risk premium in the near term, though selling pressure persists ahead of QE expectations materializing. Cryptos and tech stocks face near-term headwinds, but the long-term structural logic behind AI agents and chip self-sufficiency remains intact. Institutions maintain selective bullishness, urging attention to de-escalation signals and Fed independence statements as potential catalysts for improved risk sentiment. Overall, near-term volatility is elevated, yet mid-to-long-term allocation themes—energy and AI—retain compelling value.
Disclaimer: The above content was compiled via AI search and verified manually prior to publication. It does not constitute investment advice.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
