Bitcoin was trading close to $78,000 after losing 2% over the past 24 hours, while selling spread across most of the cryptocurrency market. Data from CoinDesk Indices showed that 95 of the 100 assets in the CoinDesk 100 were lower, with most of the decline taking place overnight.
Bitcoin stood at roughly $78,000, down 0.23% since midnight UTC. The 2% daily decline erased its previous session’s gains and put the cryptocurrency 5.1% below last week’s high of $82,284.
Ether was around $2,470, posting a marginal gain since midnight but remaining 1.9% lower over 24 hours. BNB was the weakest major cryptocurrency, falling 5.1% to about $710.11.
The broad CoinDesk 100 index declined 3.7% over 24 hours, with only five constituents recording gains during that period.
Speculative tokens absorbed much of the selling. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index dropped 10%, while the small-cap CoinDesk 80 declined 5.1%. The larger-cap CoinDesk 5 performed better but still fell 2.3%.
The market was more stable during the session after midnight. Eighty-six CoinDesk 100 constituents were still lower, but the index had slipped only 0.54%, suggesting the largest wave of selling occurred overnight.
Traditional markets offered little indication of a comparable sell-off. S&P 500 futures gained 0.22%, Nasdaq futures were unchanged, gold advanced 0.16% and the Dollar Index was flat. Investors were awaiting August U.S. producer price data on Thursday, followed by the Consumer Price Index on Friday, with both reports potentially influencing expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision next week.
Futures traders turn defensive
The short-lived improvement in crypto futures sentiment seen Wednesday has faded. The taker long/short volume ratio has moved back into bearish territory, as higher oil prices and elevated Treasury yields continue to create pressure for bitcoin.
Total futures open interest fell 2% to $139 billion, while trading volume increased 5%. The combination suggests more active position turnover alongside moderate withdrawals of capital from the market.
Bitcoin futures showed signs of increasing bearish positioning. Velo data showed bitcoin’s price down 1.5% over 24 hours while its open interest climbed slightly more than 1%. Rising open interest alongside a falling price is often interpreted as traders adding short exposure.
The 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta was negative as well, indicating that sellers were more aggressive and were using market orders to enter short positions instead of relying on passive limit orders.
Open interest declined for most major tokens, including ETH, SOL, TRX, ZEC and BNB, all of which also posted negative 24-hour CVD readings. DOGE and SUI recorded the most negative CVDs among the major cryptocurrencies.
Funding data presented a less bearish picture. Annualized funding rates for most major tokens remained positive at approximately 5%, indicating that perpetual contracts continued trading above their underlying index prices and that traders still held a moderate preference for long positions. Litecoin and Shiba Inu were among the exceptions, with negative funding rates.
Bitcoin and ether’s 30-day implied volatility indexes have moved above their respective 50-day and 100-day averages, but neither measure has accelerated significantly. That suggests traders continue to expect relatively contained volatility despite the release of major U.S. economic data.
Options traders were meanwhile favoring downside protection. On Deribit, the $70,000 bitcoin put expiring Sept. 18 was the most traded BTC option, followed by the $76,000 put expiring Sept. 11. For ether, the leading contract was the $2,400 put expiring Sept. 11.
Raydium bucks the broader decline
Raydium remained the strongest-performing CoinDesk 100 asset for a second consecutive day. The Solana-based DEX token rose 8.5% since midnight UTC and was 3.6% higher over 24 hours.
Privacy coins delivered mixed results. Monero gained 2.1% over 24 hours to $513.73 after trailing the market Wednesday. Zcash, however, fell 2.36%, while Dash declined 3.23%.
Venice Token climbed 6.5% since midnight to $24.20 but was still down 12% over 24 hours after giving back part of Wednesday’s record-setting rally.
Lighter posted one of the steepest losses in the index, falling 15% over 24 hours to $4.44. It was the second-biggest 24-hour decliner after Fartcoin.
Curve DAO was the largest loser during the session, dropping 5.7% to $0.34 and 8% over 24 hours. Starknet, Monad and IOTA each fell approximately 5% since midnight.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index remained at 38 out of 100. Although that is well above its Sept. 1 low of 23, it remains below the Sept. 8 peak of 51, showing that the broader altcoin market has yet to regain its recent momentum.
