Bitcoin Slips to $83K as Altcoins Give Back Friday’s Gains

Bitcoin slipped to around $83,000 on Monday as the broader crypto market gave back part of Friday’s rally. Bitcoin was down 1.7% since midnight UTC and 2.1% over 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 100 index fell 2.6% to 1,874.56, with 91 of its 100 constituents trading lower.

The pullback was concentrated among Friday’s strongest performers. Quant (QNT) dropped 16% since midnight after gaining 39% over the previous 24 hours. The Graph (GRT) declined 12% after advancing 14% Friday, while Ondo (ONDO) also fell 12%.

The sector groups that led Friday’s rally were among Monday’s biggest decliners. The DeFi Select Index (DFX) lost 6.4% on the day and 7.3% over 24 hours, while the CoinDesk Computing Index (CPUS) fell 3.2% and 5.0%, respectively.

Oil Rebound Adds to Market Pressure

The catalyst appeared to come from the oil market rather than crypto.

President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran’s proposal included releasing frozen Iranian funds, removing oil sanctions and ending the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Brent crude subsequently moved back above $100, reaching $100.83 and gaining 3.2% on the day. The move reversed Friday’s decline below the $100 threshold.

Other traditional markets also weakened alongside cryptocurrencies. Gold fell 3.3% to $4,144, while silver dropped 5.1% to $61. U.S. equity futures were lower, with S&P 500 contracts down 0.44% and Nasdaq 100 futures off 0.95%. The dollar index edged 0.06% higher to 101.09.

Derivatives Show Lower Leverage

Crypto derivatives activity showed a sharp increase in trading volume alongside declining open interest.

Trading volume climbed 70% to $172 billion over 24 hours, while aggregate open interest fell 3% to $150 billion. The combination suggests traders were closing positions rather than building significant new exposure.

The 24-hour taker long/short ratio stood at 46.9% to 53.1% at 09:50 UTC, giving aggressive sellers a modest advantage.

Bitcoin futures open interest declined further to 650,000 BTC, its lowest level since March, as traders continued to reduce leverage. Funding rates were negative across major exchanges, indicating that remaining positions were tilted toward the bearish side.

ETH and SOL Also See Lower Open Interest

Ether futures open interest dropped to 12.85 million ETH from 13.95 million on July 1 and a late-May peak above 15.65 million.

The decline occurred despite ETH gaining 68% since July 1, suggesting that spot purchases rather than increased leverage were the primary driver of the advance. Solana futures are showing a similar pattern.

XRP was an exception, with open interest reaching a four-week high of 2.46 billion XRP earlier Monday before easing to 2.37 billion.

Binance whale positioning was mixed. Large traders remained bullish on BTC, although their positioning was less strongly bullish than Friday. They had turned bearish on ETH while maintaining a bullish stance on SOL. XRP was bearish again, though not as strongly as Friday.

HBAR Open Interest Reaches Record

Hedera’s HBAR stood out from the broader decline. Futures open interest reached a record 2.30 billion HBAR while the token’s spot price gained 48% over 24 hours, a combination that points to fresh long positioning.

However, the 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remained negative, while annualized funding was only slightly above zero. The data suggests aggressive buyers were not driving the rally and that short positions could be building against the move.

Bitcoin volatility also edged higher. Volmex’s BVIV, which measures 30-day implied BTC volatility, rose slightly to 37.4% after rebounding from the sub-36% level tested last week. Ether’s EVIV showed a similar pattern, while Wall Street’s VIX climbed to 16 on Friday from below 14.

Options Show Mixed Positioning

Options trading on Deribit showed differing expectations for bitcoin and ether.

The $84,000 bitcoin put expiring Sept. 30 was the most actively traded BTC options contract over the previous 24 hours. Put options are commonly used to hedge against declines in the underlying asset.

For ETH, the $2,850 call expiring Oct. 20 led trading activity, pointing to continued demand for upside exposure.

HBAR Leads While Friday’s Winners Retreat

HBAR was the strongest performer among the CoinDesk 100, gaining 13% since midnight and 14% over 24 hours to around $0.11. It was the only constituent to rise more than 3% during the session.

The token has been consolidating since climbing from below $0.08 during the week of Sept. 19. There was no new catalyst behind Monday’s move, although The Hashgraph Group added its Hedera-based IDTrust identity platform to IBM’s cloud catalog on Sept. 23.

Meanwhile, several of Friday’s top performers surrendered their gains. QNT fell 16% to $240.59, GRT declined 12%, and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) dropped 12%. AI agent token Kite (KITE) lost 11%, while Celestia (TIA) fell 9.1%.

DeFi tokens were particularly weak. Uniswap (UNI) declined 7.9% to $8.91 and was down 11% over 24 hours. Morpho (MORPHO) fell 7.5% on the day and 8.5% over 24 hours, while ONDO dropped 12%. The DeFi sector index fell 6.4% after gaining 8.7% over the rolling 24-hour period on Friday.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) continued to unwind its CME-driven advance, falling 7.7% to $306.69 and 10% over 24 hours. Sui (SUI) declined 6.2%, while Solana (SOL) fell 2.9% to $118.41.

A few older layer-1 tokens moved higher. Algorand (ALGO) gained 2.3%, XDC Network (XDC) rose 2.3%, JUST (JST) advanced 1.3% and IOTA (MIOTA) added 1.0%. All four were also higher over the previous 24 hours.

Despite Monday’s sell-off, CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index remained elevated at 65 out of 100, its highest reading in more than three months.

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