Bitcoin climbed back to around $82,500 after President Donald Trump said the United States would not launch an attack on Iran before the midterm elections. However, the recovery has not erased the week’s losses, with BTC still down approximately 4% and Ether falling 9% over the same period.
Bitcoin (BTC) entered the weekend trading about 4% below its price a week earlier. After dropping to nearly $80,300 on Thursday, the leading cryptocurrency recovered to approximately $82,500. Ether (ETH) underperformed, losing 9% over the week to trade near $2,500.
The rebound followed a Thursday Truth Social post in which Trump ruled out a U.S. strike on Iran before the November 3 midterm elections. Oil prices also retreated, with Brent crude declining about 1% to roughly $103 per barrel.
Smaller cryptocurrencies outperformed the market leaders during the recovery. The CoinDesk 80 index advanced 2.2% since midnight UTC, gaining more than twice as much as the CoinDesk 5 index.
Despite the bounce, broader market losses remained significant. The CoinDesk 100 was down 2.2% over 24 hours, while DeFi tokens had dropped nearly 4%. U.S.-listed Bitcoin, Ether and Zcash exchange-traded funds experienced outflows on Thursday. XRP funds were the only crypto investment products to record inflows that day.
Market sentiment had also been affected by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake’s recommendation that cryptocurrency holders consider entering “bunker mode” to prepare for potential AI-related threats to wallet security. Coinbase cryptographer Yehuda Lindell pushed back against the warning, calling it “FUD,” or fear, uncertainty and doubt. He said there was no evidence that the elliptic-curve cryptographic assumptions securing Bitcoin and Ether had been broken.
Traditional markets also responded positively to Trump’s comments. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.83% since midnight, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.44%.
Derivatives market positioning
Bitcoin futures open interest fell 1.9% over 24 hours to $27.1 billion, according to Coinalyze. The figure has remained largely unchanged since Thursday afternoon’s liquidation event, despite BTC’s recovery toward $82,500. This suggests that the rebound has not been driven by a fresh wave of leveraged trading.
Funding rates remain positive at approximately 5% annualized, with the projected rate slightly higher. This means traders holding long positions are still paying to maintain their bets on higher prices. Meanwhile, Deribit’s October 30 Bitcoin futures are trading at an annualized basis of around 7%.
Long positions continue to dominate Bitcoin derivatives markets. Coinalyze reported an aggregate long-to-short ratio of 1.85, indicating that roughly 65% of tracked positions are bullish. The ratio has risen from nearly equal long and short exposure at the start of the month.
CoinGlass data showed $1.09 billion in crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours, with $931 million coming from long positions, representing approximately 85% of the total. Ether accounted for the largest share at $345 million, followed by Bitcoin at $266 million and Solana at $65 million. The biggest individual liquidation was a $20 million ETH-USD position on Hyperliquid.
Token market movements
Starknet (STRK) jumped 33% in 24 hours after the network revealed that it was actively considering separating from Ethereum and operating as an independent layer-1 blockchain. The proposal also targets full quantum resistance by 2027, although no final approval has been granted. The announcement follows the shutdown of Pudgy Penguins’ Abstract, which became the second Ethereum layer-2 network to close within a week.
Kaia (KAIA), a layer-1 blockchain formed through the merger of Kakao’s Klaytn and LINE’s Finschia, climbed 40% since midnight after securing a listing on Upbit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange. Other layer-1 assets also rallied, with Aptos (APT) gaining 12% and Cosmos (ATOM) and Polkadot (DOT) rising nearly 10% each.
Several cryptocurrencies that led Thursday’s rally subsequently suffered sharp reversals. Algorand (ALGO), which had topped the CoinDesk 100 with a 9% gain on Thursday morning, dropped 14% over 24 hours. Curve (CRV) also fell 13% after previously advancing 11%.
AI-related tokens struggled to recover following fresh information about OpenAI’s revenue. CNBC reported on Thursday that OpenAI had an annualized revenue run rate of $50 billion at the end of September, below the $68 billion figure widely reported the previous month. The disclosure coincided with the Nasdaq Composite posting its largest single-day decline since mid-August.
The AI agent payments token Kite (KITE) and Venice (VVV) each lost about 9% over 24 hours and remained slightly down since midnight UTC.
Pyth Network (PYTH), an oracle token, gained 13% over 24 hours, placing it among the relatively few assets that remained positive across both timeframes.
