Bitcoin briefly pushed to $81,455 overnight, reaching its highest level since May 15 before retreating as U.S. equity futures weakened and precious metals extended their gains into Friday.
BTC was trading around $79,850, down approximately 0.5% over the past 24 hours after reaching the overnight peak. The move brought Bitcoin back to a level last seen on May 15, when the cryptocurrency failed to break through $82,800 and later entered a decline that took it close to $57,000.
The broader market remained relatively constructive. Gold added 0.2%, while silver climbed more than 2% on Friday. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.3%, maintaining the divergence that has emerged since the U.S. Treasury unveiled its bond buyback plans on Aug. 19. Bitcoin has advanced roughly 26% since the announcement.
Altcoins were less resilient, with most major tokens falling between 2% and 3% since midnight. Traders continued to concentrate on Bitcoin, keeping the Altcoin Season Index at 34/100 and firmly within Bitcoin-dominated territory.
Futures Market Sees Increased Churn
Crypto derivatives markets showed more position reshuffling than fresh directional conviction over the past day. Total futures open interest remained just above $140 billion, while trading volume rose nearly 10% to $222 billion.
Shorts accounted for about 51% of taker activity, giving the overall flow a slight bearish bias.
Solana stood out for continued growth in futures positioning. SOL open interest reached 70.88 million tokens, its highest level since early July, according to CoinGlass. Its open-interest-adjusted 24-hour cumulative volume delta, however, has moved into negative territory, suggesting short sellers are becoming more aggressive.
CC recorded the strongest open-interest growth among altcoins, with futures positioning increasing more than 5% over 24 hours to 328 million tokens. That is just below its March peak of approximately 340 million, leaving the token exposed to potentially larger price swings if positioning unwinds.
Unlike much of the market, CC’s 24-hour CVD remains slightly positive, indicating that buyers continue to have the upper hand in its immediate price action.
Most other major tokens are showing negative CVD readings, with CC, TRX and HYPE among the exceptions. The data points to stronger selling activity across the broader market.
Monero is another notable case, but for a different reason. XMR perpetual futures funding has reached an annualized 67%, indicating that bullish traders are paying heavily to maintain leveraged long positions. The elevated funding rate suggests the long trade has become increasingly crowded.
Options Market Shows Confidence Ahead of Warsh
Bitcoin’s volatility expectations have eased despite Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s upcoming Jackson Hole speech.
The 30-day Bitcoin implied-volatility index, BVIV, has fallen to 41% from a recent 50% high. The decline suggests options traders are not positioning for a major market shock following Warsh’s remarks.
Deribit’s volume data also shows a bullish tilt. Call options dominate the latest Bitcoin rankings, with the $85,000 call expiring Sept. 26 seeing the most activity. Ether options are similarly skewed toward calls.
Memecoin Rally Keeps TRUMP in Focus
The TRUMP memecoin surged 24% over the past 24 hours to around $2.80, making it the strongest performer of the session despite no obvious news catalyst.
Open interest has risen 57% over the past week to $188.72 million, according to CoinGlass. The sharp increase indicates that leveraged trading is playing a significant role as long positions accumulate alongside renewed strength in the memecoin sector.
Solana fell 2.6% since midnight UTC to approximately $106, trimming part of its 18% weekly gain. SOL recently reclaimed $100 for the first time since February and has continued to hold above the level, although its momentum has begun to fade.
Zcash declined 2.4% on the day but remains about 41% higher over seven days. The token was among the biggest winners from last week’s short squeeze and is now consolidating after its steep advance.
Monero moved in the opposite direction, gaining 2.2% since midnight to around $464 and bringing its weekly increase to 12.8%.
With the Altcoin Season Index still at 34/100, Bitcoin remains the dominant focus across the crypto market. A decisive move above $82,000 could provide the next major bullish catalyst and potentially reignite broader altcoin momentum.
