Altcoins Outperform as Bitcoin, Solana Lead Market’s First Major Bounce

Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies rallied on dovish Federal Reserve signals, with highly speculative tokens such as Memecore’s M and Audiera’s BEAT leading gains.

Smaller altcoins outperformed as bitcoin BTC $61,838.15 and other large-cap tokens extended Wednesday’s recovery. The CoinDesk 20 Index climbed nearly 5% over 24 hours, hitting a one-week high, with all components finishing in the green.

Memecore’s M surged 81%, while Audiera’s BEAT rose 12%, ranking among the top performers in the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Venice Token (VVV), in third place, advanced about 9%.

Bitcoin gained more than 4% to roughly $61,200, while ether (ETH) rose 5%. Solana’s SOL jumped 9% after the network launched an on-chain governance framework requiring at least 100,000 staked tokens to submit proposals. XRP added nearly 4%.

Analysts at Marex called it the “first real bounce of the whole selloff,” noting that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s comments in Sintra—where he said inflation risks had eased—helped unwind expectations of a near-term rate hike and pushed BTC back above $60,000 for the first time in a week. They also highlighted Solana as the standout performer, up roughly 16% on the week.

Attention now turns to upcoming catalysts, including Thursday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report and policy-related developments such as President Donald Trump’s planned voluntary AI model standards.

In derivatives markets, activity picked up as BTC, ETH, and other majors rose following dovish Fed commentary. Trading volume increased 18% to nearly $200 million, while open interest rose 4% to $107 million. Total liquidations reached $444.6 million, with shorts accounting for most of the wipeout—reversing recent patterns of long liquidations.

Bitcoin open interest climbed to 777.87K BTC from 768K a day earlier, the highest level since June 4. Rising prices alongside higher open interest typically point to strengthening trend momentum, suggesting the rebound may have further room to extend.

Positive annualized funding rates near 10% and strong 24-hour cumulative volume delta readings reinforce a bullish short-term setup.

Ethereum, however, has yet to see a strong return of leveraged positioning, with futures open interest holding near 13.8 million tokens. XRP shows a similar trend, while Solana futures activity has cooled from recent peaks, with open interest easing to 72 million SOL from 76.6 million in late June.

On Binance, the three-month futures basis for BTC and ETH remains below the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield of 4.49%, signaling muted arbitrage incentives and limited institutional positioning, even as overall conditions remain constructive.

Across most top 25 tokens, 24-hour open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remains positive, indicating buyers are aggressively lifting offers rather than passively bidding—a shift from recent selling dominance.

Implied volatility for BTC and ETH has also eased after a late-June spike, a development often associated with bullish price stabilization as volatility tends to move inversely to spot performance.

However, options markets remain cautious. Put contracts still trade at a premium to calls on Deribit, while OTC flows via Paradigm show mixed positioning—BTC saw demand for $57K puts, while ETH calls were actively accumulated across multiple strikes.

In ecosystem news, Ethereum layer-2 network Taiko restored its cross-chain bridge after a $1.70 million exploit in July. The relaunch followed a multi-stage recovery process and independent security review.

The update briefly sent TAIKO more than 100% higher to $0.38 before it retraced to around $0.16, highlighting continued volatility in smaller-cap tokens. With a market cap of roughly $32.5 million, TAIKO remains outside the top 500 cryptocurrencies, underscoring its elevated risk profile.

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