Bitcoin hovered near $90,000 on Friday as declining trading volumes and thin liquidity continued to dampen momentum, resulting in choppy price action across major cryptocurrencies and mixed moves among altcoins.
The largest digital asset traded in a narrow range over the past 24 hours, easing back toward Thursday’s lows while holding just above the $90,000 level. Bitcoin has remained stuck in this band since late November as market participation continues to fade.
Spot trading volume dropped 9% over the past day to roughly $38 billion, a sharp contrast to the $80 billion to $130 billion regularly recorded several months ago. The combination of low activity and shallow liquidity has fueled erratic price swings across bitcoin and altcoins, with sharp moves often reversing quickly and punishing leveraged traders.
Altcoin performance was mixed. Polygon’s POL token led gains, climbing 7.8% since midnight UTC after announcing a pivot toward becoming a neobank. Maple Finance’s SYRUP and Zcash (ZEC) also posted advances, while tokens including SKY and TON moved lower.
Derivatives markets reflected the subdued tone. About $200 million in crypto futures positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, well below the $400 million or more seen on each of the prior three days, suggesting traders are increasingly staying on the sidelines. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility, tracked by Volmex’s BVIV index, eased to 43% from 47.3%, reversing a late-December spike. Ether’s EVIV slipped to 60%, its lowest level since Oct. 11.
Total notional open interest in crypto futures fell to $138.5 billion from above $141 billion earlier in the week, with most major tokens seeing declines. ZEC stood out with a 14% jump in open interest, likely reflecting hedging activity amid recent price swings. Funding rates for most major perpetual contracts remained positive, indicating lingering demand for bullish exposure, though XLM, WLFI, CRO and TRX continued to post negative rates.
In options markets, volatility-focused strategies dominated. On Deribit, straddles and strangles accounted for nearly 30% of bitcoin option block flows over the past 24 hours, pointing to positioning around potential volatility rather than directional bets. For ether, traders favored strangles and call spreads.
Despite POL’s rally to its highest level since Nov. 20, liquidity remains thin. The token’s 2% market depth stands at just $197,000 on the upside, meaning a buy order of around $200,000 could move the price more than 2%.
Elsewhere, several altcoins lagged the broader market. SKY fell 1.7% since midnight UTC, while TON slid 4.3%. Privacy-focused tokens reversed some of Thursday’s moves, with Monero (XMR) edging lower and Zcash rebounding more than 14% from its lows as concerns over a recent development team shakeup appeared to ease.
