Crypto Markets Today will be on hiatus for a while starting Wednesday. We’ll be back on January 5th with your regular trading update and market analysis. Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday!
It’s another risk-free day in the crypto market, with Cardano-based Midnight Network’s governance token, NIGHT, down 22% in 24 hours, the worst performer among the top 100 tokens by market capitalization.
Although the reason for the sale is unclear, it is not the only one trading in the red. Non-serious token PUMP fell by 13%, and MNT, XMR and ZEC each fell by as much as 8%.
Bitcoin the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell back below $88,000 after failing to establish a foothold above the $90,000 resistance level on Monday.
Volatility could rise later on Tuesday after the release of US third-quarter GDP, which is likely to show that the economy remained strong in the three months to September.
Derivative positioning
- Cumulative open interest (OI) in BTC futures listed worldwide has remained unchanged at around 670,000 BTC for over a week. In the past 24 hours, it has fallen slightly, indicating continued lack of participation in leveraged markets.
- Participation in SOL futures is increasing as evidenced by the increase in OI to 58.75 million SOL, the highest since October 10.
- OI in XRP futures rose 1.28%, while ETHs fell 1.7%.
- Perpetual funding rates for most major cryptocurrencies remain positive, if only slightly, indicating a slight bias for bullish bets. BCH and LINK stand out with negative rates.
- On the CME, open interest in BTC futures continues to slide along with weak demand for spot ETFs, a sign of waning institutional interest in carry trades.
- On Deribit, biases in BTC and ETH options strengthened following BTC’s inability to hold gains above $90,000.
- Looking beyond December, positioning looks bearish, with $80,000 set as the most popular play in January expiration options.
- In terms of block flows, stranglers and straddles cumulatively account for 35% of the total over the past 24 hours. Buyers of these strategies are essentially positioned for volatility.
- In ETH’s case, call spreads have dominated block flows.
Token Talk
- Only a small fraction of crypto tokens introduced in 2025 are still worth more than they were at their debut, an analysis of 118 tokens shows.
- Only 15% trade above their token generation event (TGE) valuation, according to Memento Research. The median token is down about 71% in fully diluted value (FDV) and 66% in market capitalization.
- The steepest losses came from tokens with the highest initial valuations. Among the 28 tokens with an initial FDV of $1 billion or more, none are above water, and the group shows a median decline of 81%.
- Big name launches pulled the average down. The FDV-weighted performance shows a 61.5% drop, far worse than the 33.3% drop for an equally weighted basket.
- Infrastructure, decentralized economy, and artificial intelligence-linked tokens dominated TGE figures, and their performance was generally negative. Perpetual DEXs were the rare standout, helped by strong showings from platforms like Hyperliquid and Aster.
