Bitcoin fell to about $83,000 on Monday as a broad crypto-market pullback erased much of the previous session’s gains. BTC was down 1.7% since midnight UTC and 2.1% over 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 100 index declined 2.6% to 1,874.56. Ninety-one of its 100 constituents were trading lower.
Friday’s strongest performers were among the biggest losers Monday. Quant (QNT) dropped 16% after surging 39% over the previous 24 hours, while The Graph (GRT) fell 12% after gaining 14%. Ondo (ONDO) also declined 12%.
The reversal was particularly pronounced across the sectors that led the earlier advance. The DeFi Select Index (DFX) fell 6.4% on the day and 7.3% over 24 hours. The CoinDesk Computing Index (CPUS) lost 3.2% and 5.0%, respectively.
Oil Prices Return Above $100
The latest crypto decline coincided with renewed pressure in energy markets.
President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had called for the release of frozen funds, the removal of oil sanctions and an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Brent crude climbed back above $100, reaching $100.83 after rising 3.2% during the session. The move reversed Friday’s decline below the key price level.
Risk assets broadly weakened. Gold dropped 3.3% to $4,144, while silver fell 5.1% to $61. U.S. stock futures also declined, with S&P 500 futures down 0.44% and Nasdaq 100 futures off 0.95%. The dollar index gained 0.06% to 101.09.
Crypto Leverage Continues to Decline
Derivatives data showed that trading activity increased even as the amount of capital tied up in open positions decreased.
Crypto trading volume rose 70% over 24 hours to $172 billion, while total open interest declined 3% to $150 billion. The combination suggests that traders were closing existing positions rather than adding substantial new leverage.
The taker long/short ratio was 46.9% to 53.1% at 09:50 UTC, giving aggressive sellers a slight advantage.
Bitcoin futures open interest fell to 650,000 BTC, the lowest level since March. Funding rates remained negative across major exchanges, indicating that the remaining futures positioning had a bearish tilt.
Ether and Solana Follow the Same Pattern
ETH futures open interest declined to 12.85 million ETH, down from 13.95 million on July 1 and a late-May peak above 15.65 million.
That reduction came despite ETH gaining 68% since July 1, indicating that the rally was driven more by spot demand than by leveraged futures positions. Solana futures showed a comparable trend.
XRP futures provided a contrast. Open interest reached 2.46 billion XRP earlier Monday, its highest level in four weeks, before falling back to 2.37 billion.
Binance whale positioning was mixed. Large traders remained bullish on BTC, although their conviction had eased from Friday’s extremely bullish positioning. They were bearish on ETH and still bullish on SOL. XRP had also turned bearish again, though the positioning was less negative than Friday.
HBAR Futures Reach Record Open Interest
HBAR was a notable exception to the broader market decline. Open interest climbed to a record 2.30 billion HBAR while the token’s spot price jumped 48% over 24 hours, suggesting new long positions were entering the market.
However, the 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta was negative, while annualized funding remained only slightly above zero. This indicates that aggressive buying was not driving the move and that traders could be adding short positions against the rally.
Bitcoin’s implied volatility also edged higher. Volmex’s BVIV rose to 37.4% after recovering from the sub-36% level reached last week. Ether’s EVIV followed a similar path. The VIX on Wall Street rose to 16 on Friday from below 14.
Bitcoin Puts Lead Derivatives Activity
Deribit options activity showed different positioning between BTC and ETH.
The $84,000 bitcoin put expiring Sept. 30 was the most traded BTC contract over the preceding 24 hours. Put options are commonly used to protect against or position for declines in the underlying asset.
For ether, the $2,850 call expiring Oct. 20 recorded the highest trading activity, indicating demand for upside exposure.
HBAR Bucks the Market Trend
HBAR gained 13% since midnight and 14% over 24 hours to roughly $0.11, making it the only CoinDesk 100 constituent to gain more than 3% during Monday’s session.
The token has been consolidating since rising from below $0.08 during the week of Sept. 19. There was no new catalyst associated with Monday’s move, although The Hashgraph Group added its Hedera-based IDTrust identity platform to IBM’s cloud catalog on Sept. 23.
Most of Friday’s leading tokens moved sharply lower. QNT dropped 16% to $240.59, GRT fell 12%, and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) declined 12%. KITE lost 11%, while Celestia (TIA) fell 9.1%.
DeFi tokens were also hit hard. UNI declined 7.9% to $8.91 and was down 11% over 24 hours. MORPHO fell 7.5% on the day and 8.5% over 24 hours, while ONDO dropped 12%. The DeFi sector index declined 6.4% after rising 8.7% over the previous 24-hour period on Friday.
BCH continued to retreat from its CME-driven rally, falling 7.7% to $306.69 and 10% over 24 hours. SUI dropped 6.2%, while SOL declined 2.9% to $118.41.
Several older layer-1 tokens managed to stay positive. ALGO gained 2.3%, XDC rose 2.3%, JST added 1.3% and IOTA gained 1.0%. Each was also higher over the previous 24 hours.
Even with the sell-off, CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index remained at 65 out of 100, its highest reading in more than three months.
