Altcoins extended their gains Friday as bitcoin traded sideways near $84,000. Quant surged 39% over 24 hours, while 93 of the 100 cryptocurrencies in the CoinDesk 100 index moved higher.
Bitcoin was trading at about $84,342, little changed since midnight UTC. The broader CoinDesk 80 index gained 4.7%, significantly outperforming the 1.0% advance in the CoinDesk 5.
The rotation into altcoins follows a pattern seen in previous market cycles. After a strong bitcoin rally loses momentum, traders can shift toward higher-risk assets, while elevated funding costs for leveraged bitcoin positions can further encourage the move.
Bitcoin rose from below $63,000 in August to nearly $87,000 on Tuesday before settling into consolidation. During that pause, altcoins have gained ground. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose to 56, up from 45 a week ago and 38 a month ago, marking its highest reading in more than three months.
Chainlink (LINK), Internet Computer (ICP) and Bittensor (TAO) helped lift the CoinDesk Computing Index by 9.5% over 24 hours. The DeFi Select Index gained 8.7%, with both indexes rising more than three times the CoinDesk blended benchmark’s 2.5% advance.
Bitget Hack Has Limited Market Impact
Crypto traders appeared to look beyond Bitget’s $351.6 million security breach. Attackers compromised a backend component of the exchange’s wallet infrastructure and spoofed transaction data, allowing them to trigger Bitget’s authorization process and move funds.
CEO Gracy Chen said the investigation had ruled out private-key theft and that the exchange’s $464 million User Protection Fund is sufficient to cover the loss. Withdrawals remain suspended while the security review continues.
Risk appetite also received support from the broader macro backdrop. European equities opened sharply higher following reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators were discussing a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude fell below $100 to $98.94, gold rose 0.26% to $4,287 and the dollar index declined 0.11% to 101.14.
Derivatives Market Signals
Taker flow nears balance: The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio moved close to 50%, compared with 52% on the short side the previous day. Trading volume fell 17% to $206 billion, while open interest increased 1.8% to $153 billion. Liquidations fell 63% to $228 million.
The combination of weaker volume and slightly higher OI indicates that traders are largely maintaining existing positions instead of actively changing exposure. The drop in liquidations also points to limited forced positioning.
Bitcoin futures OI drops below 700,000 BTC: Open interest slipped below 700,000 BTC after briefly rising, suggesting some cooling in leveraged long demand. Binance whale metrics remained strong, with a 1.33 long-short whale account ratio and a 1.87 whale position ratio. This creates a contrast between softer futures activity and continued positioning by larger traders.
ETH, SOL and XRP OI unchanged: Futures open interest for Ethereum, Solana and XRP remained flat over 24 hours, suggesting limited fresh positioning in those markets.
Zcash attracts new positions: ZEC gained 7% as futures open interest jumped 15.9%. The simultaneous price and OI gains point toward fresh capital entering the market rather than short covering. Annualized funding near 10% and the most positive 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta among major assets also indicate bullish positioning.
ZEC is up nearly 300% this quarter. While rising OI suggests traders are positioning for further gains, the increase in leverage following such a large rally could also make the trade vulnerable to a rapid unwind.
LINK open interest outpaces price: Chainlink futures OI increased 28%, compared with a 14% price gain over the same period. The faster rise in OI generally points to new long positions entering the market.
ONDO reaches record OI: ONDO futures open interest climbed to a record 1.07 billion tokens while the spot price reached its highest level since November 2025. The record OI provides additional participation behind the price advance.
Volatility continues to fall: Thirty-day implied volatility for bitcoin and ether continued moving lower toward levels that have acted as a floor throughout much of the year. Options markets are not pricing in a major disorderly move.
Deribit expiry passes quietly: More than $17 billion in bitcoin and ether options expired Friday without a major visible market reaction. BTC’s most traded strike over the prior 24 hours was the $70,000 call, followed by the $90,000 call. ETH’s most active strike was the $2,800 call.
Altcoin Leaders
Quant (QNT) remained the strongest performer, trading at $98.93 after rising 9.8% since midnight UTC and 39% over 24 hours. It recorded the biggest gains in the CoinDesk 100 on both time frames.
ONDO rose 8.4% since midnight and 32% over 24 hours, while Lido DAO (LDO) advanced 8.0% and 20%.
AI and computing tokens also moved higher across the board. All seven CoinDesk Computing Index constituents gained. LINK increased 3.7% since midnight and 12% over 24 hours, ICP rose 4.3% and 10%, TAO gained 2.2% and 5.4%, and FET added 1.6% on the day and 18% over 24 hours.
The DeFi sector also remained strong, with the DeFi Select Index up 8.7%. ONDO, LDO and Ethena (ENA) contributed to the gains. ENA climbed 10% over 24 hours despite slipping 0.42% since midnight, while Uniswap (UNI) was little changed at 0.67% and 0.66%, respectively.
Privacy tokens continued to advance, with Zcash gaining 2.5% to $1,584.86 and Monero rising 1.0% to $571.43. ZEC remained roughly 16% higher over the past week and close to record levels.
The biggest decliners were mostly tokens that had rallied the previous day. Raydium (RAY) fell 3.4%, Bonk (BONK) declined 2.7% and Litecoin (LTC) dropped 1.6% to $70.78 following its halving-driven run. All three remained higher over 24 hours except Raydium.
