Bitcoin Holds Near $64K as Higher Yields and Oil Pressure Stocks

Bitcoin was trading around $64,000 after its recent rebound from $62,600, but momentum has eased as rising Treasury yields and crude prices weigh on broader risk assets.

BTC is down about 0.6% since midnight UTC, while Nasdaq 100 futures have fallen 1.1%. Ether has declined roughly 1%, with SUI, XLM and TAO also moving lower.

The increase in bond yields comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes, due Wednesday, as investors assess the central bank’s next policy steps following two softer inflation readings. Brent crude has also climbed back to around $94 a barrel after the 60-day U.S.-Iran ceasefire expired Monday without a new agreement.

Markets will also be watching a White House meeting with crypto executives scheduled for Wednesday, which President Donald Trump is expected to attend. U.S. crypto policy has become an increasingly important market catalyst, contributing to Bitcoin’s choppy, range-bound trading.

Derivatives Positioning

Longs gain the upper hand: After Bitcoin outperformed U.S. stocks on Monday, the long-short taker volume ratio in crypto futures shifted firmly into bullish territory. Long trades accounted for more than 51% of taker activity. Takers are traders who execute orders at available market prices, removing liquidity from order books.

Funding rates signal growing bullish exposure: Traders are increasingly positioning for Bitcoin gains, with annualized perpetual funding rates reaching a 20-month high, according to CryptoQuant. Positive funding indicates perpetual futures are trading above spot prices and reflects stronger demand for long positions.

Bitcoin open interest remains stable: Total BTC futures open interest continues to hover around 750,000 BTC, largely unchanged over the past several weeks.

Solana futures activity increases: Open interest in SOL futures climbed to 66.88 million tokens, the highest level since July 10. Funding rates, however, remain close to neutral.

XLM shows stronger bearish positioning: XLM has dropped nearly 3% to about $0.15 since midnight, reaching its lowest level since May 27. The decline reverses part of its late-May rally toward $0.27. At the same time, XLM futures open interest increased 3.5% over the past day to its highest level since June 4. Annualized funding of -28% points to a strong short bias, while negative 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta suggests sellers are aggressively executing market orders.

Other open-interest changes: CC, DOGE and SUI were also among the tokens recording notable increases in futures open interest, despite prices remaining flat to lower. HBAR and CRO saw some of the largest declines in open interest.

Bitcoin Leads the Bullish Activity

The current bullish positioning appears concentrated in Bitcoin rather than spread across the broader crypto market.

BTC has maintained positive 24-hour CVD, indicating stronger buying activity. By contrast, ETH, SOL, LTC, LINK and DOGE are showing negative CVD readings, suggesting that Bitcoin is currently attracting more aggressive buyers than most other major tokens.

Low volatility may also be encouraging traders to add positions. Thirty-day implied volatility for both Bitcoin and Ether remains close to its lowest levels of the year.

Trading firm TDX Strategies said the subdued volatility environment could create an opportunity to establish tactical positions centered on December options for BTC and selected altcoins such as SOL and HYPE.

Options Traders Favor Upside

Options activity on Deribit continues to show a preference for calls above Bitcoin’s current price.

The $70,000 BTC call expiring Sept. 25 was the most actively traded Bitcoin option over the previous 24 hours. In Ether options, the $2,080 call expiring Aug. 28 led trading activity.

Token Movers

PUMP gained 1.31%, retaining part of Monday’s 7.8% rally, which came alongside a 55% increase in daily trading volume to $90 million. The token has since stabilized above $0.00277.

Monero’s XMR added 0.59% to around $417, lifting its seven-day gain above 11%. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency remains one of August’s stronger performers.

SUI was the biggest decliner, falling 4.62% to approximately $0.6436. The move reversed some of its recent strength after the token had outperformed several other layer-1 cryptocurrencies through late July.

FET dropped 2.10% to $0.1213, extending its recent weakness as AI-linked tokens continue giving back some of their late-July gains.

LINK declined 1.45% to $9.39, retracing part of the rally that followed Standard Chartered’s projection that the token could rise 2,000% by 2030. Despite the latest pullback, LINK remains about 8% above its price before that forecast.

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