Starknet and Arbitrum jumped more than 17% as the 10-year Treasury yield moved back below 5%, while 98 of the 100 cryptocurrencies tracked by the CoinDesk 100 posted gains.
The crypto market extended its recovery Friday following the Federal Reserve’s rate hike, with DeFi and layer-2 assets taking the lead. The shift came after privacy and perceived haven tokens dominated Thursday’s move, pointing to renewed appetite for risk across digital assets.
Bitcoin climbed above $78,000 during European trading, rising 2.1% from midnight UTC and 1.9% over the previous 24 hours. BTC remained about 5% below its Sept. 4 high of $82,284, however, after spending roughly two weeks trading within a narrow range.
The advance was broad, with only two CoinDesk 100 assets trading lower. The DeFi Select Index was among the biggest gainers, rising 8.3% since midnight UTC and 16% over the past 24 hours.
Macro Conditions Improve
The market’s move higher coincided with a softer macroeconomic backdrop. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped below 5%, while Brent crude fell under $103 after reaching $109 earlier in the week. The retreat in oil prices helped ease some of the inflation concerns that emerged after the latest rate increase.
U.S. equity futures were also positive. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%. Gold added 1.1% and silver climbed 2.8%.
Derivatives data showed signs that traders were rebuilding positions. Total crypto futures open interest expanded by almost 5% to $141.2 billion, even though daily trading volume declined 3% to $95 billion.
The balanced taker buy-sell ratio suggests the increase in capital is being driven more by renewed positioning than by aggressive momentum trading.
Bitcoin futures OI increased to 680,000 BTC from 670,000 BTC since midnight UTC as BTC gained. Rising OI alongside a rising price is typically associated with the establishment of long positions. Still, the increase was relatively small, and total OI remains well below the 800,000 BTC peak reached earlier this year.
Large Traders Maintain Bullish Exposure
Binance data showed the top-trader long-short accounts ratio at 1.52, down from nearly 2 on Wednesday but still indicating more long accounts than short accounts.
The long-short positions ratio stood at 2.36. The figures suggest that while fewer large traders are positioned on the long side, those maintaining bullish positions have increased the size of their trades.
UNI futures were another area of increased activity. Open interest in Uniswap contracts climbed to 86.61 million UNI from 76.89 million a day earlier, approaching an all-time high.
The rise in futures positioning came alongside a 30% jump in UNI’s spot price. The renewed interest in large DeFi tokens follows growing optimism around more coordinated crypto regulation from the SEC and CFTC.
The 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta was positive for most major tokens, with GRAM, SHIB, HBAR and BNB among the exceptions. Positive readings indicate that buyers are using market orders more aggressively than sellers.
Bitcoin Volatility Eases
With the Clarity Act vote and the Fed and Bank of Japan rate decisions now behind the market, bitcoin’s 30-day annualized implied volatility measure, BVIV, declined to 36%.
That level is near the floor established in May and suggests options traders are anticipating a relatively quieter period in the short term.
Deribit options also showed a more constructive near-term bias. Bitcoin’s one-week put-call skew turned positive, indicating that calls are trading at a relative premium to puts. The one- and two-month skews, however, retained a slight put bias.
Ether’s one-week skew also leaned bullish, although overall options activity remained mixed, with both BTC calls and puts among the most actively traded contracts.
UNI, STRK and ARB Lead Gains
Uniswap was the biggest contributor to the DeFi Select Index’s Friday advance. UNI rose 13% since midnight UTC and 25% over 24 hours. Ethena gained 9.6%, while Lido’s liquid-staking token increased 6.6%.
Layer-2 tokens were also among the strongest performers. Starknet advanced 18% on the day and 21% over 24 hours, while Arbitrum gained 17% and 25%. Stacks rose 9.2%, and Optimism added 8.9%.
Starknet reached its highest price since June 19. Arbitrum, meanwhile, traded at 20.9 cents, its highest level since January.
Solana climbed 4.5% to $106.14, but gains were even stronger among some tokens in its ecosystem. Raydium jumped 16% to $1.71, while Jito increased 1.6%. The difference suggests trading activity was concentrated in decentralized-exchange tokens rather than representing a broad-based bid across Solana assets.
Zcash, which led Thursday’s gains, showed less momentum Friday. ZEC traded at $1,490.10, up 1.6% on the day and 7.6% over 24 hours, meaning most of its recent rally came during Thursday’s session.
Dash fell 0.53%, making it one of only two CoinDesk 100 constituents to decline. World Liberty Financial’s WLFI also slipped, losing 0.31%.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose to 44 out of 100 from Tuesday’s reading of 32. The increase points to a broader return of speculative activity across the crypto market.
