Bitcoin gained 0.7% since midnight UTC, trading around $77,200, as 68 of the 100 assets in the CoinDesk 100 moved higher. Despite the rebound, the index remained 1.4% lower over the previous 24 hours.
BTC was trading near $77,300, according to CoinDesk Indices data, up 0.7% since midnight but still down 0.87% over the past day. The cryptocurrency remained about 6% below its $82,284 peak from last week.
Ether rose 1.6% on Friday and also posted a 24-hour gain, making it one of the few major cryptocurrencies to recover from its overnight losses. Solana added just under 1% since midnight.
Market breadth improved significantly from Thursday, when declining assets outnumbered gainers 86 to 14. On Friday, 68 CoinDesk 100 constituents advanced. The index itself gained 0.5%, although it remained 1.6% lower over 24 hours, with 80 components still posting losses during that period.
The memecoin index was the strongest performer, rising 0.73% since midnight UTC. Speculative assets again showed the largest moves, but this time the direction was positive.
Traditional markets also strengthened. S&P 500 futures rose 0.48%, Nasdaq futures gained 0.56%, gold climbed 0.74% and silver advanced 0.92%. The Dollar Index was unchanged. Investors were also awaiting the U.S. August consumer price report at 8:30 a.m. ET, the final major economic release before the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15-16 FOMC meeting.
Derivatives Positioning
Crypto futures open interest fell to $59.5 billion from $62.4 billion on Wednesday, while 24-hour trading volume reached $94.2 billion, according to Coinalyze. Liquidations totaled $256.3 million during the past day, compared with $142.3 million in the middle of the week.
Bitcoin open interest remained close to $25 billion, increasing 0.12% over 24 hours and representing 42.1% of total crypto futures positioning. Coinalyze data shows BTC open interest peaked near $26.8 billion on Sept. 4 and has gradually declined since, suggesting leverage has been reduced over several days rather than through one large liquidation event.
Zcash experienced the sharpest leverage unwind. Its open interest dropped 20.1% to $1.4 billion as ZEC fell 9% to $1,112.10. Liquidations reached $17.2 million, while its funding rate turned negative at -0.0016%, making it the only major token with a negative funding rate.
Bitcoin accounted for $60.3 million of liquidations, while Ether contributed $46.5 million. Combined, the two assets represented more than 40% of all liquidations.
Funding across the market remained positive but subdued. Bitcoin’s aggregate funding rate was 0.0036%, while the predicted rate stood at 0.0026%. The aggregate long/short account ratio was 1.114, with longs at 52.67% and shorts at 47.29%, pointing to relatively balanced positioning.
Open interest in both Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and XRP declined by roughly 5% over 24 hours, reaching $2.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.
Token Performance
Theta Network was the top performer in the CoinDesk 100, rising 11% since midnight UTC to $0.19 and gaining 6.9% over 24 hours.
Raydium, the Solana-based decentralized exchange token, climbed 10% on the day to $1.60 and was up 18% over 24 hours. It marked the third straight session in which Raydium led the index, following gains of 5.8% and 8.5% earlier in the week.
Lighter, the token linked to a perpetuals exchange, rose 5.8% to $4.54 after suffering a 15% decline during the previous 24 hours.
Zcash gained 3.4% since midnight to $1,116.06 but remained 8.8% lower over 24 hours. It recorded the steepest daily decline among tokens with market capitalizations above $10 billion.
Morpho increased 3.6% to $2.34 and was 2.3% higher over 24 hours, making it one of the few mid-cap cryptocurrencies to remain positive across both timeframes.
CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator stood at 38/100, remaining in neutral territory after reaching 51/100 on Tuesday.
