Bitcoin is showing signs of forming another lower high, while ether remains stuck in a prolonged consolidation range, even as U.S. equity futures continue to push higher.
The leading cryptocurrency traded near $76,600 on Tuesday, slipping 0.8% since midnight UTC after failing to sustain Monday’s brief rally to $77,800. The pullback reinforces a broader bearish structure that has persisted since October, with bitcoin down roughly 7% over the past two weeks.
This softness contrasts with traditional markets, where S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures have each climbed more than 0.5%, suggesting that crypto’s weakness is being driven by asset-specific factors rather than broader macro or geopolitical pressures.
Ether is underperforming further. Currently trading around $2,098, the second-largest cryptocurrency has dropped more than 10% in the past fortnight and remains trapped within a range established between February and April, showing little momentum toward recovery.
Across the altcoin space, performance is mixed. AI-related tokens are posting notable gains, while earlier high-flyers such as zcash have come under pressure, with ZEC down about 7% since midnight.
Activity in derivatives markets has cooled. Total crypto futures volume has fallen 10% to $130 billion over the past 24 hours, while open interest remains relatively flat at around $126 billion. Liquidations have declined 21% to $126 million, reflecting subdued trading conditions following the extended U.S. holiday weekend.
Positioning across altcoins appears selective. Tokens like SHIB, LINK, HBAR, NEAR and TRX have recorded increases in open interest, while ZEC, XLM and HYPE have seen declines, indicating a rotation of capital rather than broad market participation.
NEAR continues to stand out, rising 58% in the week ending May 24 and adding another 14% since to reach $2.82, a level last seen in November. The rally appears to be driven by a series of network upgrades focused on scaling, privacy, and quantum resistance, alongside a surge in derivatives activity. Open interest in NEAR futures has climbed to a record 309 million tokens, up from 182 million a week ago.
Strong buying pressure is also evident in NEAR’s positive cumulative volume delta, suggesting aggressive market participation from buyers. Despite the rally, funding rates remain only slightly positive, indicating the move is not yet overheated and could have room to extend.
Chainlink is also seeing increased derivatives interest, with open interest rising to 42.96 million tokens — the highest since early February. Funding rates near 8% annualized signal that futures are trading at a premium to spot, typically viewed as a bullish indicator.
In contrast, bitcoin futures activity has cooled, with open interest declining to 711,000 BTC from 793,000 earlier this month. Ether open interest remains elevated near record levels at just under 15 million ETH. Meanwhile, implied volatility for both assets continues to trend lower, pointing to ongoing volatility selling and a lack of urgency in options markets.
However, bearish positioning is still visible. On Deribit, bitcoin put options with strike prices between $70,000 and $76,000 rank among the most actively traded contracts over the past 24 hours, signaling demand for downside protection.
Among sector indices, CoinDesk’s Computing Select Index — which tracks AI tokens and Chainlink — led gains, rising 1.9% since midnight UTC and 2.7% over the past day. Tokens such as FET and RENDER posted solid advances.
The DeFi Select Index also outperformed major cryptocurrencies, gaining 1.3%, suggesting that traders are rotating into higher-risk segments while waiting for bitcoin and ether to break out of their current ranges.
Privacy-focused tokens weakened broadly, with monero and dash each falling about 1.5%, following losses in zcash.
Finally, CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index has edged up to 35 out of 100 from last week’s 31, though it remains below the monthly high of 50, indicating that altcoins have yet to enter a sustained period of outperformance.
