Bitcoin remained around $83,000 during European trading as U.S. Treasury yields climbed, while DeFi assets pulled back from Tuesday’s gains and Lighter fell 17% following Robinhood’s plans to launch U.S. perpetual futures.
BTC traded at $83,164 in the European morning, down 0.57% from midnight UTC. The broader crypto market was evenly divided, with 50 of the CoinDesk 100 constituents trading higher and 50 lower.
Bitcoin was down roughly 1% over the previous 24 hours after falling from a Tuesday U.S. session high of $84,400. The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DFX) declined 2.3%, making it the weakest performer across the index group. Aave dropped 4.4% after gaining 11% Tuesday, when it was the leading performer.
Traditional markets opened firmer. S&P 500 futures rose 0.27%, while the Stoxx 600 advanced 0.74%. The gains came despite the 30-year Treasury yield breaking above 5.6% Tuesday, its highest since June 2002. The 10-year yield also reached a fresh 2007 high near 5.3%, CNBC reported.
Brent crude was at $96.43 after declining Tuesday, staying well below $100, a level that had coincided with Monday’s crypto selloff.
There was no clear catalyst for bitcoin’s morning move. Market attention was focused on the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, due ahead of the Wall Street open. Micron earnings were scheduled for release after the close.
Bitcoin has continued to trade within a consolidation range since its failed Sept. 21 breakout attempt near $87,300.
Leverage continues to decline
Crypto derivatives markets showed further signs of cooling leverage. The market-wide taker long/short volume ratio remained balanced for a second consecutive day, following a modest seller advantage two days earlier, when shorts accounted for 53.1% of volume versus 46.9% for longs.
Liquidations dropped to approximately $196 million from $389 million the previous day. Open interest declined to $147 billion from nearly $150 billion two days earlier, while total volume fell 16.9% to $181 billion, CoinGlass data showed.
Bitcoin futures positioning also continued to shrink. Futures open interest fell to 625,000 BTC, the lowest level since Jan. 1, compared with 644,000 BTC the previous day and 650,000 BTC two days earlier.
The decline has been underway since June, even as bitcoin advanced from $57,000 to more than $80,000. The divergence indicates that the rally has been supported more by spot purchases than by increased leverage.
Binance traders maintained a net-long bias. The long/short ratio rose to 1.42 for retail traders and 1.49 for whale accounts, compared with 1.24 and 1.31 a day earlier.
Whale positioning increased slightly to 1.90 from 1.88 but remained below the 2.3-plus readings recorded earlier this month. A ratio above 1 indicates that long positions exceed short positions.
Ether futures open interest also continued to decline, reaching about 13.08 million ETH, the lowest level since early March. SOL and XRP futures remained relatively quiet, continuing a subdued trend seen during the week.
At the same time, speculative positioning began increasing in some smaller tokens. PUMP rose nearly 16% over 24 hours, leading the top 100 cryptocurrencies, while its futures open interest also climbed. The combination suggests fresh leveraged money is entering the token, a pattern that has historically appeared around short-term tops in speculative assets.
HBAR fell 16% over 24 hours even as futures open interest reached new highs. Funding rates shifted into negative territory from slightly above zero two days earlier, suggesting growing demand for short positions.
The short exposure may also reflect traders hedging spot holdings against additional downside. HBAR’s 24-hour OI-adjusted CVD was the most negative among major tokens, indicating strong selling pressure.
POL and CAKE also had deeply negative funding rates, meaning traders holding short positions were paying to keep them open. LIT showed the opposite setup, with strongly positive funding.
Volatility indicators remained subdued. Thirty-day implied volatility for bitcoin and ether stayed calm for another day, suggesting traders continued to expect relatively orderly conditions despite higher Treasury yields, a stronger dollar and weaker gold.
Deribit options activity showed demand for both BTC calls and puts, after calls dominated the previous day. The $70,000 bitcoin call was the most actively traded contract over 24 hours.
For ether, the $3,000 call remained the most traded contract for a second consecutive day.
Lighter falls after Robinhood announcement
Lighter (LIT), the token linked to the perpetuals exchange, dropped 17% over 24 hours and fell another 5.6% since midnight UTC. Its market capitalization declined to $2.1 billion.
The move followed Robinhood’s announcement that it plans to offer U.S. perpetual futures through its own derivatives business.
Interoperability tokens were among the day’s strongest performers. Quant (QNT) rose 7.5% since midnight, making it the top CoinDesk 100 gainer and taking its 24-hour advance to 14%. LayerZero (ZRO), a cross-chain messaging token, gained 13% over the same period.
Memecoins also moved higher, with Bonk (BONK) gaining 5.9% and dogwifhat (WIF) adding 3.4% since midnight. PUMP slipped 2.7% but remained 14% higher over 24 hours.
DeFi tokens were mixed after Tuesday’s gains, which followed speculation surrounding a potential Aave token burn. Aave fell 3% since midnight, while Uniswap (UNI) and Ondo (ONDO) posted smaller declines.
Curve (CRV) rose 3.6%, while Lido (LDO) and Ethena (ENA) each gained 1.8%.
CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index stood at 61 out of 100, remaining above 60 for a fifth consecutive day. The reading indicates continued strength across altcoins as bitcoin trades sideways, with the index holding at these levels for the first time in more than three months.
