BTC Maintains Momentum Above Crucial Level as Altcoin Breakdowns Deepen

Bitcoin dominance has bounced from last week’s lows, signaling renewed capital inflows into BTC as altcoins continue to underperform.

Bitcoin gained ground on Thursday, with its share of the total crypto market rising alongside strength in select smaller-cap tokens. The CoinDesk 20 Index rose 2.3% to 1,690, while the CoinDesk Memecoin Index outperformed with a 2.7% gain.

BTC climbed 2.4% over 24 hours to trade near $62,800. Its dominance rate increased to 59%, up from 57.9% last week, reflecting a shift in market preference toward Bitcoin amid continued weakness in major altcoins. Bitcoin has also held its 200-week moving average, while XRP, ether (ETH), and solana (SOL) remain below that key level, underscoring relative underperformance across the altcoin sector.

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Speculative activity remained elevated in pockets of the market. Audiera’s BEAT token surged another 57%, extending weekly gains beyond 500%. The BNB Chain-based Web3 gaming project has benefited from rising onchain activity, token burns, and increased wallet participation, though concerns persist over concentration risk and speculative froth.

Velvet’s VELVET token also posted strong gains, rising roughly 800% over the past month amid heightened trading momentum.

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Derivatives positioning

Derivatives markets continue to show pressure on leveraged bullish bets. Over the past 24 hours, liquidations totaled around $378 million, with long positions accounting for more than $207 million.

Open interest in BTC and ETH futures remained broadly steady, indicating limited appetite for fresh leverage. In contrast, Zcash (ZEC) saw open interest fall to 2.28 million tokens from recent highs above 2.5 million, reflecting reduced positioning as its rebound from sub-$300 levels loses momentum. The token has also retreated from about $480 to near $430 in a short span.

The 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) showed mixed signals: BTC, ETH, XMR, HBAR, and SHIB recorded net buying pressure, while TON, XLM, HYPE, TRX, XRP, and others showed net selling.

Implied volatility remains subdued, with Bitcoin’s BVIV holding below 50%, suggesting traders are not pricing in significant volatility around upcoming macro catalysts such as the SpaceX IPO. Ether volatility (EVIV) has also eased from recent highs.

On Deribit, BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at a premium over calls across major expiries, with the $58,000 BTC put expiring June 13 among the most actively traded contracts.

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Token activity

Velvet’s VELVET token has seen heavy speculative inflows, surging roughly 800% over 30 days and more than doubling in a single session at its peak.

The rally has been driven by interest in pre-IPO perpetual futures—synthetic contracts that allow traders to speculate on private company valuations such as SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic ahead of listings. This momentum has built ahead of SpaceX’s expected debut at a reported $1.75 trillion valuation.

DefiLlama tracks 14 such pre-IPO markets across platforms including Injective, Hyperliquid, and Crypto.com, with Velvet accessing liquidity via external routing rather than building its own infrastructure.

However, these instruments carry significant structural risks. They are synthetic derivatives with no equity rights, dividends, or governance exposure, and pricing can diverge sharply from fundamentals due to thin liquidity and unreliable data feeds. One SpaceX-linked synthetic contract reportedly fell around 45% in a flash move.

VELVET itself has also faced scrutiny after extreme volatility, with analysts pointing to potential imbalances between spot and derivatives activity. The token has traded in a wide range between $0.29 and $1.07 within a single day.

On-chain data further highlights a disconnect between valuation and real usage, with about $653,000 in deposits supporting a $339 million market cap, raising questions about sustainability and underlying demand.

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