Bitcoin moved higher Thursday as a weaker dollar helped lift risk assets, while PONS and Arbitrum continued their strong runs for a third consecutive session.
BTC was trading near $77,890 in Thursday morning trading, up 0.76% from midnight UTC. The recovery came after Wednesday’s sell-off, although Bitcoin was still down 2.89% over the past seven days.
Traditional markets also found support. Gold climbed 0.97% to about $4,434, and silver rose 0.88% to $65.94 after both declined a day earlier. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures advanced 0.15%. The moves followed a 0.32% decline in the U.S. dollar index to 99.259.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $9.3 million in net outflows, extending their selling streak to two days. The latest withdrawal was modest compared with Tuesday’s $239 million outflow.
Altcoins generally traded higher, although the altcoin season index remained at 35/100. Lighter (LIT) and Arbitrum (ARB) were among the stronger performers, with ARB continuing to receive support from revenue linked to its deal with Robinhood Chain.
Futures Market Shows Mixed Signals
Crypto derivatives markets have shifted toward a more neutral stance. The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio is now balanced after showing a bearish bias a day earlier. Aggregate open interest remained around $136 billion, while overall trading volume fell 7% to $187 billion.
Arbitrum’s ARB stood out in derivatives markets. Open interest increased nearly 10% to 1.58 billion ARB, a record level, according to Coinglass. ARB was also the best-performing top-100 cryptocurrency over the previous 24 hours.
Other indicators remained supportive, with both the 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta and annualized perpetual funding rates staying positive.
LIT, however, showed a different pattern. The token surged to a record spot price of $2.85, making it the second-best performer over 24 hours, but futures open interest continued to decline. The disconnect suggests the rally is being driven mainly by spot buying and could be vulnerable to a reversal if derivatives participation remains weak.
Bitcoin and ether futures also continued to show relatively light positioning, with open interest near recent multi-week lows.
Across major-token futures, bulls remained in control. Positive OI-adjusted CVD readings for BTC and ETH indicate that more long positions are being initiated through market orders rather than passive limit orders, generally a constructive signal for further gains.
TRX short positioning also eased. Its annualized perpetual funding rate improved to about -23%, compared with -80% earlier in the week. The market remains bearish on TRX, but the reduction in short exposure lowers the risk of a sharp squeeze caused by overcrowded positions.
Volatility indicators remained subdued for both Bitcoin and ether. Their 30-day implied volatility readings point to relatively low levels of concern in the options market and could support continued strength in spot prices.
Bitcoin options also retained an upside bias. On Deribit, $82,000 and $84,000 calls ranked among the most actively traded contracts over the previous 24 hours. However, BTC’s seven-day skew has declined from recent highs, while ether options flows remained mixed.
PONS Leads Altcoin Gains
PONS was Thursday’s strongest altcoin performer, jumping 30.85% over 24 hours to $0.50. Its weekly advance reached 318.72%.
The token is associated with the largest revenue-generating launchpad on Robinhood Chain. About 80% of the protocol’s revenue is used to repurchase and burn PONS, providing a direct mechanism for token value accrual compared with many other tokens benefiting from the Robinhood Chain narrative.
ARB extended its rally for a third session, rising 16.77% over 24 hours to roughly $0.13. Its market capitalization climbed above $916 million, while daily trading volume reached $486 million.
That volume was more than nine times last week’s average of approximately $50 million per day.
Uniswap’s UNI provided the biggest large-cap setback, falling 8.62% to $5.75. Despite the sharp daily decline, UNI remained up 29.11% over seven days after previously ranking among the strongest DeFi performers during the rally.
Elsewhere, Monero continued its advance, gaining 4.30% since midnight to around $515. Pump.fun rose 4.96% to $0.004296, while LIT gained another 3.13% to $3.92.
Bittensor’s TAO added 2.33% to $222.31, although it remained well below the approximately $247 level recorded one week earlier.
