Bitcoin Pulls Back From Six-Week High as Altcoins and Memecoins Signal Risk Appetite
Bitcoin (BTC $91,901) briefly climbed to its highest level since mid-November on Monday before retreating, once again stalling near a resistance zone it failed to break in early December. While some traders view the pullback as confirmation of overhead resistance, others are watching for a decisive breakout that could open the door to a move toward $98,900 — a level that served as key support between June and November.
Despite Bitcoin’s hesitation, risk appetite appeared to strengthen elsewhere across the crypto market.
Altcoins and Memecoins Rally
Altcoins posted broad gains, led by Sui (SUI), which rose more than 3% since midnight UTC, extending its 24-hour rally to roughly 16%. XRP continued its strong start to the year, climbing about 29% since Jan. 1.
Speculative activity was particularly pronounced in memecoins. Trading volumes on Solana-based token launcher Pump.fun surged to a record $1.27 billion, signaling renewed retail participation. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) gained 1.5% on the day, lifting its year-to-date advance to 19%.
Derivatives Positioning Shows Short Covering
Derivatives markets reflected the shift in sentiment. More than $400 million in crypto futures positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with shorts accounting for the bulk of the total — suggesting many traders entered the new year positioned for downside.
Bitcoin’s global futures open interest held steady near 660,000 BTC, while XRP open interest surged to 2 billion XRP, its highest level since Oct. 11, pointing to fresh capital flowing into the token as prices hit multiweek highs. Funding rates across most major assets remained moderately positive, signaling a bullish bias, though tokens including SOL, TRX, ZEC, SHIB, and UNI showed negative rates, reflecting growing short interest.
Volmex’s BVIV index, which tracks 30-day implied volatility for Bitcoin, reversed a brief uptick and slipped back toward 44%, signaling continued calm. On Deribit, put demand in BTC and ETH eased further as traders favored call options, with block flows dominated by call spreads and BTC strangles.
Token Focus
Memecoins have re-emerged after a bruising year that saw losses exceeding 95% across much of the sector. Beyond Solana, activity has also picked up on BNB Chain, where retail traders have gravitated toward mostly Chinese-language tokens grouped under the so-called “Four Meme” category, a term popularized by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
Outside of memecoins, Sui drew attention after Mysten Labs published a research paper exploring privacy-preserving crypto transactions, fueling speculation that privacy features could eventually be added to the blockchain.
CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” index rose to 27 out of 100 — still firmly in “Bitcoin season” territory, but well above December’s low of 14, pointing to early signs of broader strength. That said, caution remains warranted, with average crypto relative strength indices flashing overbought signals, raising the risk of short-term profit-taking across several altcoins.
