The broader crypto market ticked lower Tuesday with bitcoin down 1% since midnight UTC to $80,800 and ether (ETH) lost 2% to $2,290.
U.S. stock futures also fell after U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support,” sending Brent crude oil up to $107 a barrel. barrel and a 0.4% increase in the US Dollar Index (DXY).
Bitcoin, however, remains above Bitmine (BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee’s line in the sand at $76,000, which he said would confirm the end of a bull market if bitcoin can hold above that level at the end of the month.
The altcoin market is mixed with the majority of tokens underperforming the two largest cryptocurrencies, while a small corner of the market, including curve (CRV) and toncoin (TON) received the bearish price movement with upward movements between 5% and 10% in the past 24 hours.
Derivatives positioning
- Market-wide nominal open interest (OI) in crypto futures rose to $125 billion, although volume fell 6% to $174 million. The moves suggest reduced short-term speculation and gradual trader positioning.
- ZEC’s OI plunged over 10% to 1.90 million tokens from the 4.5-month high of 2.48 million tokens last week. At the same time, the token’s price fell to $550 from $642. The combination suggests liquidation of bullish bets rather than new capital flows for shorts or bearish plays.
- SUI, CORE and HBAR were among the other major OI decliners. Open interest in Canton’s CC token, meanwhile, rose more than 10%, with positive funding rates and a positive 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta signaling stronger buyer dominance.
- ETH and XMR are other notable OI winners, although their CVDs are negative, a sign that sellers are leading the price action with market orders rather than passive limit orders.
- The relentless decline in bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has stalled this month, stabilizing near 40%. But there are no signs of a renewed recovery, pointing to continued calm in the market, an environment favorable for further bullish price action.
- Wall Street’s volatility gauge, the VIX, which measures the 30-day implied volatility of the S&P 500 index, has risen more than 10% this week to nearly 19 points. While still below recent highs above 30, the minor rebound deserves attention.
- On Deribit, the 24-hour volume ranking featured BTC calls at $80,000, $82,000 and $84,000 strikes. The calls are bets that the price of bitcoin will rise. It also included puts, or bets on a drop, at strikes of $65,000 and $74,000.
Token talk
- All CoinDesk benchmarks are in the red since midnight UTC, with the DeFi Select Index (DFX) leading the losses with a 2.7% move, followed by the CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS) down 2.3%.
- JUP, MON and SEI are among the worst performing altcoins of the day, falling between 5.6% and 6.3% due to a continued lack of liquidity.
- is one of the best-performing altcoins, adding 4.1% to a three-day winning streak.
- CRO’s rally can be attributed to a governance proposal that, if passed, would change the project’s tokenomics by replacing inflation-driven stake rewards with a system where dividends are fully funded by actual protocol revenues.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator is at 50/100, the highest level since late March, as sentiment across the sector shows signs of improvement.
