Altcoins climbed sharply as the U.S. dollar slid to a multi-year low, while bitcoin remained range-bound and ether gave back part of its recent gains.
The Dollar Index (DXY) dropped to its lowest level in four years on Tuesday, breaking below a long-term trendline that has held since 2011. The decline came despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to steady sentiment, saying the dollar was “doing great” and that he was not “concerned.”
Bitcoin traded little changed on Wednesday after rising a day earlier alongside the weaker dollar. Ether, by contrast, edged lower, with momentum shifting toward select altcoins.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token extended its rally, gaining 11% since midnight UTC. Solana-based liquid staking token Jito (JTO) jumped 32%, marking its strongest one-day performance since December 2023, according to CoinDesk data.
Moves in the dollar remain closely watched by crypto traders, as most digital assets are priced against the U.S. currency. The inverse relationship was a defining feature of the last bear market, when the dollar surged roughly 22% between November 2021 and October 2022, while bitcoin fell more than 70%.
Derivatives positioning
Liquidations continued to flush out leveraged longs, with roughly $230 million in bullish crypto futures positions wiped out over the past 24 hours. The steady drawdown in long exposure has persisted since Monday.
Despite the positioning reset, volatility expectations remain muted. One-day and 30-day implied volatility for bitcoin and ether remain under pressure, suggesting traders are not anticipating sharp price swings even as the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision approaches.
Futures tied to the HYPE token saw notable positioning changes. Notional open interest rose more than 20% in dollar terms over the past day, largely reflecting price gains, while open interest measured in tokens held steady near 57 million HYPE.
Open interest across major contracts—including bitcoin, ether, XRP and BNB—rose between 2% and 4%. With the exception of ZEC and TRX, annualized funding rates remain positive, indicating a continued preference for long positioning.
In options markets, bitcoin and ether puts on Deribit continue to trade at a premium to calls. Demand has increased for bitcoin downside protection at the $85,000 strike. Block trades in bitcoin options showed mixed interest in both call and put spreads, while ether traders favored straddles and risk reversals.
Token talk
While HYPE and JTO ranked among the day’s strongest large-cap movers, the biggest gain came from PIPPIN, a Solana-based memecoin and autonomous AI agent created by AI innovator Yohei Nakajima. The token surged 64% over the past 24 hours and was the most accumulated asset by “smart money” wallets, according to Stalkchain.
Other decentralized exchange tokens also advanced. Jupiter (JUP) rose 3.1% since midnight UTC, extending its 24-hour gain to 10.9%, while Aster (ASTER) climbed 5.7% from Tuesday morning to trade near $0.69.
Index performance underscored the broader altcoin strength. The bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 20 Index gained 2.47% over the past 24 hours and is up 2.38% year to date. The altcoin-focused CoinDesk 80 Index outperformed, rising 3.7% on the day and 7.3% since the start of the year.
The upbeat tone across altcoins comes as bitcoin remains locked in a narrow consolidation range—a market setup that has historically favored higher-beta tokens, as traders rotate into more speculative assets while waiting for bitcoin to make a decisive move.
