The crypto market’s ups and downs have left altcoins in a bit of a tricky spot. They’re not quite sure if they’ll go up or down, and they’re really being influenced by things happening outside of their own networks. These external forces will likely decide if we see a recovery rally.  

That’s why BeInCrypto has taken a closer look at three altcoins that investors should keep an eye on during the third week of March, to see which way they might be heading.

Solana (SOL)

Let’s start with Solana (SOL). It’s currently priced around $129, and it looks like it could be gearing up for a potential bullish move. Something big is happening for Solana on March 17th – the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is launching SOL Futures. This is a pretty big deal for the altcoin, as CME is one of the biggest exchanges for derivatives in the world, so this launch could bring a lot of institutional money into Solana.  

This could give SOL a boost and push its price higher. The key level to watch out for on the upside is $161. To reach that, Solana would need to jump by about 24%. But for this rally to really take off, SOL first needs to break through some resistance levels at $135 and then $148. Clearing these hurdles would open the door for further gains.  

Now, what if Solana *doesn’t* break through $135 or $148? Well, then we could see its price pull back. If it falls below these levels, SOL might drop back down to $126, or even further to $118. This would likely put a stop to any bullish hopes for now, potentially delaying a recovery and opening SOL up to more downside.

Mantle (MNT)

Moving on to Mantle (MNT), we’ve seen its price jump by 25% in the last week. This excitement is building because Mantle has a network upgrade coming soon. On March 19th, the Mantle Network Mainnet is getting a hard fork upgrade. This will activate EigenDA and make sure Mantle works smoothly with Ethereum’s upcoming ‘Pectra’ upgrade. This upgrade is creating a lot of positive buzz around MNT.

Because of this upgrade, many expect MNT to climb even higher, possibly reaching $1.00. Right now, it’s trading at $0.83, and to keep going up, it needs to break through resistance at $0.87 and then $0.94. If it can successfully push past these points, it would really confirm this upward trend.

On the other hand, if MNT can’t get past $0.87, it might just stay stuck in a sideways pattern for a while. And if it loses support at $0.79, there’s a risk it could fall further down to $0.71. Dropping to this level could change the mood in the market, turning things bearish for MNT instead of bullish.

BNB 

Lastly, let’s talk about BNB, another altcoin that’s worth watching this March. Its price has had a great week, surging 19.5% and hitting $635 at the time of writing. BNB has already broken through a key resistance area between $587 and $619. With momentum building, it looks like BNB is set to climb further, as long as the overall market conditions stay supportive in the next few days.

A big event coming up for BNB is the Pascal hard fork on March 20th. This upgrade is bringing in some cool features like EIP-7702 smart contract wallets, better compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and more flexibility for developers. These improvements could really boost investor confidence, potentially pushing BNB above $647 and maybe even towards the $686 mark.

However, if this expected rally doesn’t pan out, BNB could fall back to $619. If it loses this support level, it might drop even further, going back through that resistance zone and potentially testing the $550 support level. That would definitely suggest the bullish momentum has faded.