Digital assets opened the week on a cautious footing, even as U.S. equity futures edged about 0.25% higher from midnight UTC levels.
Bitcoin traded around $68,710, down 0.1%, while a number of altcoins — including HYPE, ZEC and XMR — posted losses of more than 3%.
Ethereum was a relative outperformer, rising 0.43% and pushing back toward the $2,000 mark after a heavy weekend sell-off. The decline was amplified by large transfers linked to trader Garrett Jin. Blockchain data shows a wallet attributed to Jin moved over $540 million worth of ETH to Binance, leading to a spike in exchange-specific sell volume and driving ether into oversold territory — conditions that helped set up Monday’s rebound.
In commodities, gold changed hands near $5,000, down from its Jan. 29 high of $5,600 but still outperforming silver and cryptocurrencies, which have fallen 36% and 21%, respectively, over the same stretch. U.S. cash markets were closed for a public holiday.
Futures and volatility trends
Derivatives data reflects ongoing risk reduction. Aggregate notional open interest (OI) across crypto futures declined to $98 billion.
Over the past 24 hours, OI fell 1% in bitcoin futures and 2.7% in ether futures, while XRP, DOGE, SUI and ADA contracts saw sharper declines of 6% or more. In contrast, open interest in tokenized gold (XAUT) futures climbed 8%, signaling a defensive rotation.
Volatility expectations have eased from recent extremes. Thirty-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH has retreated toward 50% annualized after briefly approaching 100% during the latest downturn, suggesting traders are scaling back tail-risk pricing. However, the widening volatility spread between ether and bitcoin points to expectations of comparatively larger swings in ETH.
Funding rates for several altcoins — including XRP, TRX, DOGE and SOL — remain negative, underscoring a persistent short bias. If prices hold steady, that positioning could lead to short covering and a squeeze higher.
On the CME, SOL futures trade with an annualized premium near zero, reflecting cooling demand, while BTC and ETH contracts maintain modest premiums.
Options activity paints a mixed picture. On Deribit, a trader spent $3 million in premium for a $75,000-strike bitcoin call option, representing a sizable bullish bet. Nevertheless, put options tied to BTC and ETH remain more expensive than calls across maturities, indicating lingering downside hedging.
Altcoins underperform
The broader altcoin segment drifted lower in thin Sunday trading before stabilizing slightly early Monday.
DOGE dropped more than 10% over 24 hours but steadied after midnight UTC. XRP gained 1% during the same period, though it remains about 8% below Sunday morning levels.
LayerZero’s ZRO extended its decline, falling over 34% in the past five days, including a 10% slide in the last 24 hours. The weakness follows the rollout of its native blockchain developed alongside Citadel Securities and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
Index performance underscored the divergence. The bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 Index rose 0.38% since midnight UTC, while the altcoin-focused CoinDesk 80 Index slipped 0.17%, highlighting continued relative weakness across the broader altcoin market.
