Bitcoin pushed above $81,000 on Friday, breaking through the resistance zone that had contained its advance in late August. The move came alongside a broad crypto rally, with privacy-focused tokens among the biggest gainers.
BTC was trading near $81,060 in Friday morning trading, down 0.22% from midnight UTC. Earlier, it reached $81,309, clearing the previous late-August ceiling.
The strength was not limited to Bitcoin. Ether rose 4.52% over 24 hours, XRP gained 5.58% and Solana added 3.04%. The rally also triggered significant derivatives activity, with about $318.6 million in crypto positions liquidated, according to Coinalyze.
Privacy coins stood out from the broader market. Dash jumped 19.24%, Zcash climbed 16.55% and Monero advanced 5.89%. There was no clear catalyst immediately explaining the sharp moves.
Outside crypto, gold gained 0.17% to $4,480, while silver rose 0.25% to $67.11. The dollar index remained almost unchanged at 99.063, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.42%.
Futures Data Supports the Rally
Derivatives indicators are beginning to favor buyers. Bitcoin’s futures taker long-short volume ratio was 51.4% long against 48.5% short, suggesting slightly stronger buying pressure as BTC established itself above $80,000.
Dash showed an even stronger combination of price momentum and derivatives participation. The token was up about 25% at one point over 24 hours, trading near $53.10, while open interest increased by roughly 20%.
The simultaneous rise in price and open interest points to fresh positions entering the market, primarily on the long side. DASH also recorded positive funding rates and a positive normalized cumulative volume delta. Funding remained around 10%, suggesting leverage had not yet reached extreme levels.
Zcash showed a similar pattern. Its open interest, CVD and perpetual futures metrics all pointed toward bullish positioning, while the market showed limited evidence of overheating.
TRON was the notable exception. Annualized perpetual funding for TRX dropped to -59%, extending a predominantly negative trend throughout the week apart from Thursday’s temporary improvement to around -20%.
Deeply negative funding indicates that short positions are becoming increasingly crowded. With traders paying to maintain bearish exposure, TRX could become vulnerable to a short squeeze if its price moves higher.
BTC Open Interest Edges Higher
Bitcoin futures open interest increased to approximately 709,000 BTC from 687,000 BTC 24 hours earlier.
Although the figure remains within the range that has prevailed around 700,000 BTC for some time, the increase alongside Bitcoin’s move above $80,000 points to fresh market participation.
Positive funding rates and a positive OI-adjusted 24-hour CVD further suggest that new positioning is leaning toward long exposure.
Ether futures also recorded a modest increase in open interest. Solana and XRP, however, have not experienced the same derivatives expansion despite their recent price advances.
SOL futures open interest has remained relatively flat over the past 24 to 48 hours even after Solana broke above $100. XRP has shown a similar lack of growth in futures activity.
Options Traders Favor Upside
Volatility indicators remain relatively subdued. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility gauge, BVIV, was near 40%, well below its August peak around 50%.
Wall Street is showing a similarly calm backdrop, with the VIX near 14%, its lowest level since January. The relatively low volatility environment could provide room for the current crypto rally to continue.
Options positioning also favors bullish exposure. Bitcoin’s most active contracts over the past 24 hours were largely calls, led by the $80,000 call expiring Sept. 25. Activity was particularly concentrated around strikes between $85,000 and $95,000.
Ether options displayed a similar bias, with the $2,800 call expiring Sept. 18 emerging as the most actively traded position.
Pons Extends Triple-Digit Weekly Rally
Pons remained one of the market’s strongest performers, rising 31.50% over 24 hours to $0.6607. Its seven-day gain reached an extraordinary 379.33%, with $151 million in trading volume.
The Robinhood Chain launchpad token has added more than $100 million to its market capitalization during the week.
Zcash climbed to roughly $967, extending its 24-hour gain to 16.55% and its weekly advance to 22.21%. Open interest jumped 38.72%, while funding turned negative at -0.0118%, indicating that short sellers were paying to remain positioned against a rising market.
Dash gained 19.24% over 24 hours to $50.66 and was up 6.91% since midnight. Its seven-day performance reached 30.52%, supported by $204 million in trading volume.
Monero rose 5.89% to $544 and gained another 3.82% since midnight, taking its seven-day increase to 16.03%.
Uniswap also maintained its recovery, climbing 9.84% over 24 hours to $6.34 and gaining 36.94% over the week after recovering from Thursday’s sharp sell-off.
