Bitcoin can be an unreliable indicator of broader risk at the best of times. But it might be onto something at the moment.

The world's largest cryptocurrency was trading at $67,007 early Tuesday, up around 1% over the past 24 hours. It's up more than 5% over the past week despite the escalating conflict across the Middle East. Ethereum was up 0.2% and XRP rose 0.7%.

Stock market trading on Monday mirrored cryptos' weekend action--a sharp initial drop as investors first reacted to the news followed by a rebound. With that in mind, cryptocurrencies were slightly softer early Tuesday but remain relatively undeterred.

In comparison, Nasdaq 100 futures were pointing 1.7% lower ahead of the open--a very similar position to this time Monday.

"Bitcoin's performance over the last few days is in line with what we've seen in the wake of major geopolitical events since 2020," Hashdex's Samir Kerbage said in a note late Monday. "Crypto prices absorb the shock before traditional markets open Monday, then gold rallies, and equities gap down," he said, adding that Bitcoin then typically recovers quickly.

That explains Monday's action but with futures lower again early Tuesday, investors may want to glance at crypto trading every now and again today for clues on broader risk sentiment.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

source: https://www.tradingview.com/news/DJN_DN20260303001678:0/