Bitcoin extended its rebound on Monday, trading near $82,700 as better-than-expected Chinese GDP figures and rising Nasdaq futures supported a recovery in risk assets. Altcoins outperformed the largest cryptocurrency, with the CoinDesk 80 index advancing 1.3% and DeFi tokens leading the market’s gains.
BTC was changing hands at around $82,500, up roughly 0.5% since midnight UTC. The move followed a recovery from Sunday’s low near $80,700 and left Bitcoin comfortably above its brief drop below $80,000 on Thursday.
Ether (ETH) rose 0.75% to approximately $2,430, while the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) gained 0.9%. By comparison, the Bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 (CD5) increased 0.35%. DeFi was the strongest-performing sector across CoinDesk’s benchmarks, gaining 0.81%, with all six constituents of the DFX sector index posting advances.
The improvement in crypto sentiment came after a challenging week for U.S. technology shares. The Nasdaq lost 4.5%, its steepest weekly decline since June, as investors grew concerned about artificial intelligence spending and rising debt. CoreWeave (CRWV) plunged 25% during the sell-off.
U.S. equity futures rebounded on Monday, with Nasdaq 100 futures rising more than 1% as Asian stocks also advanced. China’s third-quarter GDP growth of 4.5% exceeded market expectations, while lower oil prices provided additional support. Investors are now looking ahead to earnings from Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) later in the week.
Crypto derivatives and market positioning
Futures turnover jumps while open interest barely changes. Crypto futures volume increased 51% over 24 hours to $146 billion, but total open interest rose only 1.25% to $141 billion. The divergence suggests traders were moving through more contracts without significantly increasing their overall exposure. Liquidations came in at $329 million, little changed from the previous day, and the taker long-short volume ratio showed a balanced market.
Leverage builds across major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP all moved higher, while the notional open interest in their derivatives contracts expanded faster than prices. This points to fresh capital entering the futures market. Annualized perpetual funding rates were positive for all four assets, meaning long traders were paying to maintain their positions. However, open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remained flat to negative over 24 hours, suggesting aggressive selling matched or exceeded buying. The rally may therefore be driven more by derivatives positioning than by strong spot-market demand.
DOGE, UNI and crude oil contracts see declining exposure. Open interest fell in Dogecoin, Uniswap and crude oil perpetual futures despite largely flat or negative price action. This indicates that traders were unwinding positions and reducing exposure rather than increasing bearish bets.
Cardano rises while short sellers remain active. ADA gained almost 1% over 24 hours, but its annualized perpetual funding rate stood at -8%, the only negative reading among the major cryptocurrencies. Short sellers are paying to keep their positions open, while cumulative volume delta remains negative. If ADA continues to recover, short covering could add further buying pressure.
Crypto volatility remains muted despite a Wall Street volatility spike. Bitcoin’s and Ether’s 30-day implied volatility indexes, BVIV and EVIV, continued to signal relatively calm conditions even after the VIX jumped on Friday. Historical patterns suggest the VIX could normalize on Monday.
Bitcoin puts dominate Deribit options activity. The five most-traded options contracts on Deribit over the previous 24 hours were all Bitcoin puts with strike prices below the spot price. These contracts are often used to hedge long positions against a market decline, suggesting traders are protecting their holdings. Ether options flows remained mixed.
Altcoin market developments
Arbitrum gains following a stablecoin incentive plan. ARB climbed 6.7% to around $0.20 after the Arbitrum Foundation announced its Stablecoin Growth Program on Thursday. The initiative reserves 2 million ARB for the first 10 teams to hold $10 million in USDG, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Paxos Digital Singapore. ARB has gained 16.45% since the announcement.
Pump.fun rebounds as volume doubles. PUMP, the token associated with the Solana memecoin launchpad, advanced 7.6%, recovering some of its weekend losses after touching roughly $0.0039 on Sunday. No specific catalyst was identified, but 24-hour trading volume doubled to $215 million.
DeFi tokens lead the recovery. Uniswap (UNI) rose 3.2% to approximately $7.42, while Lido (LDO) advanced 2.5% and Ethena (ENA) gained 1.6%. The gains came as the sector continued to recover from pressure linked to last month’s Clarity Act delay and falling yields.
Celestia and Starknet give back gains. Celestia (TIA) declined 3.9% to about $0.61 following Friday’s 16% rally. Starknet (STRK) slipped 1% to roughly $0.06, with CoinDesk data indicating that its market value has dropped around 25% since Friday morning.
Other large-cap cryptocurrencies were mostly positive. Solana (SOL) gained 1.6% to about $106, XRP rose 0.6% and BNB added 0.36%. Cardano (ADA) edged down 0.15%, while Hedera (HBAR) fell 0.83%.
The Altcoin Season Index stood at 56 out of 100, retreating from last week’s high of 63, the strongest reading of 2026 so far.
