Bitcoin briefly climbed to $84,000 before retreating to around $83,450 during Wednesday’s European morning session. Altcoins remained under pressure as market participants waited for U.S. inflation data that could shape expectations for the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest-rate decision.
BTC touched $84,000 at 08:00 UTC after recovering from Tuesday’s low of $80,970. Despite the rebound, gains across the broader cryptocurrency market were limited.
The CoinDesk 80 index fell 0.6% from midnight UTC, while the CoinDesk 20 advanced 0.2%. Nearly two-thirds of the assets in the CoinDesk 100 traded lower, and CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index slipped to 55 from 60 a week earlier.
Markets received some relief after New York Fed President John Williams said he saw no need for interest-rate increases in 2027. However, he indicated that another hike could still be warranted before the end of this year.
The focus has now shifted to the U.S. consumer price index (CPI), the final inflation report before the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 28 meeting. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones forecast annual inflation of 3.6%, up from 3.4%, CNBC reported. Gasoline prices averaged $4.34 per gallon, compared with $3.08 a year earlier, according to AAA.
Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, and Brent crude traded near $106 per barrel.
Crypto derivatives point to cautious positioning
Activity in cryptocurrency futures markets has slowed considerably. Trading volume over the past 24 hours declined 26% to $156.79 billion, while aggregate open interest fell 2.27% to $140 billion. Liquidations dropped more than 80% to $136.32 million, suggesting that forced selling has eased and leveraged positions have decreased.
Despite the reduction in activity, short positions maintained a slight advantage, accounting for 52% of taker volume.
Bitcoin and Ether traders have been cutting their exposure ahead of the inflation announcement. Open interest in BTC decreased 3.5%, while ETH open interest fell 2.7%. Both assets recorded largely flat or negative price movements over the same period. Falling dollar-denominated open interest suggests traders are actively closing positions rather than simply experiencing lower valuations.
Zcash (ZEC) has moved in the opposite direction, attracting new positions as its open interest climbed more than 4% and its spot price gained 1%. The difference suggests that additional contracts contributed roughly 3% to the increase beyond the effect of price appreciation.
ZEC’s open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) remained positive, while annualized perpetual funding rates approached 10%. These indicators suggest aggressive buying and strong demand for long exposure, with bullish traders paying to maintain their positions. Canton Network’s CC token displayed a similar setup.
Over the past 30 days, open interest in Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies has generally declined, while exposure to tokens such as NEAR and Wormhole has increased. The trend suggests speculative capital is shifting toward altcoins with greater potential price volatility.
CVD readings showed stronger buying and selling pressure across different assets. BTC and TRX recorded the strongest readings over the previous 24 hours, while UNI, SUI and NEAR had the most negative readings among major tokens. NEAR’s rising open interest alongside heavy net selling could indicate an increase in bearish positioning.
Bitcoin’s implied volatility has also increased. The 30-day BVIV index rose to 40%, moving above its 50-day and 100-day averages. Such increases can reflect heightened uncertainty and greater demand for downside protection. Ether’s implied volatility index also edged higher.
Options activity further suggests that Bitcoin traders are preparing for potential downside moves. Puts with strike prices of $60,000, $78,000 and $75,000 ranked among the most active BTC contracts over the past 24 hours. Ether options activity was led by calls at $3,400 and $2,600, alongside a put at $2,300.
Altcoins show mixed performance
Optimism (OP) fell 4.2% after reaching its highest level since mid-May on Tuesday. The earlier rally followed Uniswap’s Unichain completing its testnet migration to OP Enterprise on Oct. 13. The mainnet transition is planned for Oct. 29, with Optimism expected to operate Unichain’s production infrastructure, including its sequencer.
Decentralized finance tokens remained among the market’s weakest performers. The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DFX) declined 1.8%, while Lido (LDO) dropped 2.9%, Jito (JTO) lost 2.8%, and Uniswap (UNI) fell 2.5%.
Several tokens that performed strongly last week also faced selling pressure. Starknet (STRK) declined 4.5%, Kaia (KAIA) dropped 3.8%, and Celestia (TIA) lost 3.7%. Celestia had reached a 2026 high of approximately $0.63 on Saturday.
On the positive side, KITE, a token associated with AI-agent payments, gained 5.3% to lead the market’s top performers. Oracle token Pyth (PYTH) advanced 4.5%, while Venice (VVV), linked to a privacy-focused AI platform, rose 2.4%. Zcash added another 1.7%.
