Market Watch: Bitcoin Dips, PENGU Sees Spike in Open Interest

Crypto Markets: Bitcoin Pullback Highlights Gains in Small-Cap Tokens – 12/9/2025

Analysts remain bullish on Bitcoin (BTC) $108,783.53, predicting new all-time highs and potential outsized gains in select tokens such as HYPE, SOL, and ENA.

BTC retreated from overnight highs above $116,000 to below $115,000, as the Dollar Index (DXY) remains stable despite expectations of an imminent Fed rate cut. Meanwhile, attention is shifting to smaller cryptocurrencies, with MYX, HASH, PENGU, PUMP, and MNT posting weekly gains exceeding 10%.

“The CPI and jobs data created a classic ‘good news/bad data’ trade: higher inflation, but weaker labor figures support the easing narrative, which is a near-term positive for crypto,” said Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN.

Derivatives Update

Open interest (OI) in futures for the top 10 cryptocurrencies rose 3%-5% over the past 24 hours as traders take on more risk amid growing expectations of Fed rate cuts. Annualized perpetual funding rates for major coins remain near 10%, indicating bullish sentiment without market overheating.

PENGU, one of the week’s top performers, reached a record OI of 7.78 billion coins, validating its price surge, with funding rates around 15%. Conversely, smaller tokens like SKY and PYTH show deeply negative funding rates, signaling bearish positioning. CME Bitcoin futures OI has started climbing, reversing a multiweek decline, while Ether futures OI dropped to a one-month low of 1.78 million ETH. BTC and ETH options OI remain elevated, though Deribit data shows a put bias through December, even as markets price in roughly five U.S. rate cuts by mid-2026.

Thorchain Hack Incident

Thorchain co-founder JPThor revealed losing funds after falling victim to a deepfake Zoom call, which emptied an old MetaMask wallet. Peckshield confirmed $1.2 million was stolen, linked to North Korean hackers.

Thorchain (RUNE), which has been used in laundering North Korea-linked crypto, is trading at $1.28, down 14% in the past month and over 90% from its March 2024 high of $12.95. The attack combined social engineering and phishing, the same methods responsible for $2.5 billion in crypto thefts in H1 2025.