Altcoins Surge as Bitcoin Holds Near $84,000

Quant jumped 39% over the past 24 hours, while 93 of the 100 assets in the CoinDesk 100 index advanced. The CoinMarketCap Altcoin Season Index also climbed to its highest level in more than three months.

Bitcoin was consolidating near $84,000 on Friday, trading around $84,342 and little changed since midnight UTC. Altcoins, however, continued to outperform, with 93 CoinDesk 100 constituents posting 24-hour gains. The CoinDesk 80 rose 4.7%, compared with a 1.0% gain for the CoinDesk 5.

The move follows a familiar pattern from previous market cycles, when traders rotate into higher-risk assets after bitcoin stages a strong rally and then begins moving sideways. Elevated funding costs for maintaining leveraged long positions can also encourage traders to shift capital toward other opportunities.

Bitcoin climbed from below $63,000 in August to nearly $87,000 on Tuesday before entering a period of consolidation. Altcoins have gained momentum during the pause. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose to 56 from 45 a week earlier and 38 a month ago, reaching its highest level in more than three months.

Chainlink (LINK), Internet Computer (ICP) and Bittensor (TAO) helped push the CoinDesk Computing Index 9.5% higher over 24 hours. The DeFi Select Index gained 8.7%, with both sector indexes advancing more than three times the CoinDesk blended benchmark’s 2.5% rise.

Bitget Hack Fails to Derail Risk Appetite

Traders have largely looked beyond the industry’s largest exchange hack in months. Bitget lost $351.6 million after attackers compromised a backend component of its wallet infrastructure and manipulated transaction data to trigger the exchange’s own authorization process.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said investigators had ruled out a private-key compromise and that the exchange’s $464 million User Protection Fund covers the reported loss. Withdrawals remain suspended while the exchange conducts a security review.

The broader macro environment has also become more supportive following a difficult week. European stocks opened sharply higher after reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators were discussing a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude fell below $100 to $98.94, while gold gained 0.26% to $4,287. The dollar index slipped 0.11% to 101.14.

Derivatives Positioning

Taker activity moves closer to neutral: The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio was near 50%, down from Thursday’s 52% short-heavy reading. Trading volume declined 17% to $206 billion, while open interest rose 1.8% to $153 billion. Liquidations dropped 63% to $228 million.

The combination of lower volume and slightly higher open interest suggests traders are holding existing positions rather than aggressively opening or closing trades. The sharp decline in liquidations also points to limited forced selling.

Bitcoin OI falls below 700,000 BTC: Bitcoin futures open interest slipped below 700,000 BTC, reversing a brief increase that had indicated stronger demand for leveraged longs. Binance whale positioning remained strongly bullish, with the long-short whale account ratio at 1.33 and the whale position ratio at 1.87. The data suggests cooling activity among smaller futures traders while larger accounts remain positioned.

ETH, SOL and XRP futures remain steady: Open interest for Ethereum, Solana and XRP futures was unchanged over the past 24 hours, indicating limited movement in trader exposure.

ZEC attracts fresh leverage: Zcash gained 7%, accompanied by a 15.9% increase in futures open interest. The combination suggests fresh positions rather than simple short covering. Annualized funding near 10% and the strongest 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta among major assets reinforce the bullish positioning.

ZEC has gained nearly 300% this quarter. The increase in open interest indicates traders are positioning for additional gains, although the accumulation of leverage following such a large quarterly rally could also leave the token vulnerable to a rapid reversal if sentiment changes.

LINK OI grows faster than price: Chainlink futures open interest has risen 28%, roughly twice the 14% increase in its price over the same period. Open interest rising faster than price typically indicates new long positions are entering the market, similar to the setup seen in ZEC.

ONDO OI reaches record: Futures open interest for ONDO climbed to a record 1.07 billion tokens as its spot price reached its highest level since November 2025. The combination suggests the latest price move is backed by increased market participation rather than a thin rally.

Implied volatility approaches yearly lows: Thirty-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH continued to decline, moving toward levels that have acted as a floor for much of the year. Options markets are therefore showing limited expectations of a disorderly move.

Deribit expiry passes with limited impact: More than $17 billion in BTC and ETH options expired Friday without an obvious market disruption. The most actively traded BTC strike over the previous 24 hours was the $70,000 call, followed by the $90,000 call. For ETH, the $2,800 call was the most traded, with all three representing upside-oriented positions.

Token Performance

Interoperability token Quant (QNT) was the strongest performer, trading at $98.93 after rising 9.8% since midnight and 39% over 24 hours. It posted the largest gains in the CoinDesk 100 on both measures.

Tokenized-treasury project ONDO rose 8.4% since midnight and 32% over 24 hours, while Lido DAO (LDO) gained 8.0% and 20%, respectively.

AI and computing tokens also advanced across the board. All seven constituents of the CoinDesk Computing Index were higher. Chainlink (LINK) gained 3.7% since midnight and 12% over 24 hours, Internet Computer (ICP) rose 4.3% and 10%, Bittensor (TAO) gained 2.2% and 5.4%, while Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) was up 1.6% on the day and 18% over 24 hours.

DeFi tokens showed similar strength, with the sector index gaining 8.7%. ONDO, Lido and Ethena (ENA) led the move, with ENA up 10% over 24 hours despite slipping 0.42% since midnight. Uniswap (UNI) was relatively unchanged, rising 0.67% since midnight and 0.66% over 24 hours.

Privacy-focused tokens also extended their gains. Zcash (ZEC) rose 2.5% to $1,584.86, while Monero (XMR) gained 1.0% to $571.43. ZEC remained about 16% higher than a week ago and continued trading close to record levels.

The day’s decliners were largely tokens that had led the previous session rather than signs of a broader breakdown. Solana-based DEX token Raydium (RAY) fell 3.4%, Bonk (BONK) dropped 2.7% and Litecoin (LTC) declined 1.6% to $70.78 following its halving-driven advance. All three remained higher over 24 hours except Raydium.

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