Crypto Today: NIGHT on Cardano plunges, ZEC and XMR follow downward

Crypto Markets Today: NIGHT Crashes, Broader Market Slips Ahead of Year-End

Crypto Markets Today will be on hiatus starting Wednesday and returns Jan. 5 with regular updates. Happy holidays!

It’s another risk-off session for crypto. Cardano-based Midnight Network’s NIGHT token plunged 22% in 24 hours, the worst performer among the top 100 by market capitalization. Other tokens also slid: PUMP fell 13%, while MNT, XMR, and ZEC dropped as much as 8%.

Bitcoin (BTC $87,363.32) slipped below $88,000 after failing to sustain momentum above $90,000 on Monday. Market volatility may increase following U.S. third-quarter GDP data, expected to show a strong economy.

Derivatives Snapshot

BTC futures: Global open interest remains around 670,000 BTC, slightly down in the past 24 hours, reflecting muted leveraged activity.
SOL futures: OI rose to 58.75 million SOL, the highest since Oct. 10.
XRP & ETH futures: XRP OI increased 1.28%, ETH declined 1.7%.
Perpetual funding rates: Slightly positive across most majors; BCH and LINK are negative.
Options positioning: BTC and ETH put skews strengthened after BTC failed to hold $90,000. January expiry BTC $80,000 puts are most popular. Strangles and straddles represent 35% of recent block flows, while ETH block flows favor call spreads.

Token Launches Under Pressure

Analysis of 118 2025 token launches by Memento Research shows:

Only 15% trade above TGE price.
Median losses: ~71% FDV, 66% market cap.
Tokens with FDV ≥ $1B saw median declines of 81%; none are above water.
FDV-weighted performance dropped 61.5%, worse than the equal-weighted 33.3% decline.
Sectors: Infrastructure, DeFi, and AI-linked tokens fell, while perpetual DEX platforms like Hyperliquid and Aster bucked the trend.