Crypto markets remained largely flat over the past 24 hours, with bitcoin stabilizing near $89,900 after retreating from last week’s post-Fed highs, while altcoins continued to underperform amid persistent risk-off sentiment.
The week began with muted price action, mirroring the end of last week, as sentiment slipped back into the “extreme fear” zone.
Bitcoin (BTC) recovered slightly from Sunday’s low around $88,000 but remains below last week’s high of $94,300 following the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point rate cut.
Altcoins showed limited movement. Ether (ETH) and TRX rose by less than 2%, while over half of the top 100 tokens traded lower, highlighting waning volatility and cautious investor behavior.
The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index edged up 0.16%, whereas the broader CoinDesk 80 (CD80) fell 0.77%, underscoring weakness among smaller, higher-risk tokens.
Derivatives snapshot
Open interest rose in DOGE, HYPE, SOL, and ETH, while ZEC, BNB, AAVE, TRX, and several smaller tokens saw outflows. Bitcoin open interest was largely unchanged.
DOGE futures hit 10.80 billion DOGE, the highest since Nov. 20, with moderately positive funding rates suggesting bullish positioning.
XRP open interest increased over 3% as it tests the long-standing $2 support level. Funding rates remain near neutral, though a breakdown could encourage short positions.
Shorts dominate XLM, MNT, and HBAR, reflected in negative funding rates. On Deribit, BTC front-end put skew has eased, while ETH front-end puts remain pricier, indicating a bearish bias in the ETH/BTC pair. Block flows included BTC calendar spreads and ETH put spreads.
Altcoin performance
Altcoins broadly underperformed bitcoin, with tokens such as AERO, TAO, ZEC, and SKY falling as much as 4.5%.
Liquid staking tokens were relative bright spots. Lido (LDO) and ETHFI gained around 2%, with ETHFI supported by a 10% ETH cashback campaign for ether.fi card users.
CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” index stands at 19/100, slightly above last week’s 16 but far below September’s 78, reflecting continued investor preference for bitcoin and other large-cap tokens over riskier assets.
CoinGlass data shows bitcoin dominance has steadily increased, rising from 56.8% in September to 58.4%, despite the surge of new token listings.
