Bitcoin was little changed Monday after a roughly 24% weekly rally, as traders paused following a Treasury buyback announcement that helped trigger more than $3 billion in short liquidations.
BTC hovered around $77,800 Monday morning, showing little movement since midnight UTC as investors digested one of its strongest weekly rallies in more than three years.
Bitcoin climbed from below $63,000 to post a 24% weekly gain, its best performance since March 2023. The breakout followed the U.S. Treasury’s decision to double its purchases of longer-dated bonds, ending a six-week trading range and forcing more than $3 billion in short positions to close within a day.
Crypto and gold continued to outperform equities. Gold rose about 0.8% Monday and remained close to record levels as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s debt-management plans kept pressure on long-term yields. The 30-year Treasury yield had briefly reached a 19-year high before falling after the buyback announcement.
Altcoins were mostly flat or modestly lower from midnight, indicating a period of consolidation rather than a broader reversal. Bitcoin dominance stood near 59.2%, while the Altcoin Season Index rose to 42 from 33 on Friday. The reading remains firmly in Bitcoin territory, showing that last week’s altcoin gains were concentrated rather than part of a market-wide rotation.
Derivatives Positioning
BTC open interest declines during the rally: Bitcoin futures open interest fell to about 715,000 BTC, its lowest level in two months, from 762,000 BTC on Aug. 18, according to CoinGlass. The drop suggests the latest advance was powered more by spot buying and short covering than by traders adding leveraged long positions.
Other major tokens show the same trend: Futures open interest for ETH, SOL and XRP also declined as their prices rose, reinforcing the view that the rally was largely spot-driven.
ZEC bucks the trend: Zcash futures open interest increased to 2.24 million tokens from 1.81 million a week earlier, while ZEC gained more than 70%. Rising price and open interest together are generally viewed as a sign of strengthening bullish momentum.
ZEC sees aggressive buying: Zcash recorded the strongest OI-adjusted weekly cumulative volume delta among major cryptocurrencies, suggesting buyers were actively lifting market prices through market orders.
Funding remains moderate: Annualized funding rates for BTC, ETH and other major tokens hovered near 10%. The readings show that traders favor long positions but are not displaying signs of extreme leverage.
Implied volatility rises sharply: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility, tracked by the BVIV index, climbed to 47% annualized from 36% a week earlier. The increase is notable because implied volatility often rises during periods of market stress. Ether’s EVIV index has also moved higher.
Options point to measured optimism: Short-term call-put skew on Deribit turned positive, indicating that bullish calls are trading at a premium to puts. However, the latest 24-hour volume was mixed, with the $70,000 put among the most traded contracts alongside several calls. The options market therefore signals optimism, but not excessive confidence.
Token Talk
Hyperliquid (HYPE): HYPE fell 3.3% to about $79.59 after reaching a record $83.30 late Sunday. The token was one of last week’s strongest performers and remains up roughly 28% over seven days.
Aave (AAVE): AAVE slipped 0.6% to approximately $140.68 but remains up more than 62% over the week. Trading volumes stayed high as DeFi tokens benefited from the broader risk-on environment.
XRP: XRP declined 2.8% to $1.48, trimming some of Friday’s gains. Even after the pullback, XRP remained up about 47% over the previous seven days, outperforming most major cryptocurrencies.
Morpho (MORPHO): MORPHO dropped 6.2% to around $2.73, making it one of the weaker performers. However, it was still up 18% over 24 hours and 33% for the week, suggesting the decline was largely profit-taking following its recent surge.
Ethena (ENA): ENA was among last week’s biggest winners, roughly doubling to $1.79 after recovering from a prolonged selloff that had wiped out more than 90% of its value.
