Bitcoin rebounds from $86,000 as downtrend persists; risk-off sentiment lifts gold and silver
Bitcoin (BTC $87,754) recovered after dipping to $86,000 on Sunday, its lowest level in over a month, coinciding with the reopening of CME futures at 23:00 UTC. The largest cryptocurrency rose more than 2% over the following nine hours before losing momentum near $88,250.
Despite the bounce, bitcoin remains in a prolonged downtrend, marked by lower highs and lower lows since October, reflecting early signs of a bear-market correction. Sunday’s selloff was fueled by persistent risk-off sentiment after a volatile week, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s Davos speeches on Greenland, tariffs, and global geopolitical tensions.
The risk-off environment pushed gold and silver to record highs, reinforcing bitcoin’s role as a risk asset that tracks equities more closely than traditional safe havens.
Derivatives highlight near-term stress
BTC futures open interest held at $22.6 billion despite downside volatility, indicating a pause in recent deleveraging. Funding rates averaged around 5% annualized across most exchanges, though OKX diverged with -3.8%, reflecting localized bearish bets. The three-month annualized basis on Binance and Deribit edged above 5%, signaling renewed institutional interest amid consolidation.
Options markets showed high conviction: a 15% one-week 25-delta skew and 58% of 24-hour volume in calls. The implied volatility term structure shifted to backwardation, with front-end volatility spiking to 41.5% and trending toward 47% for late 2026. Coinglass reported $744 million in 24-hour liquidations, dominated by ETH ($273M), BTC ($207M), and SOL ($63M), with Binance highlighting $88,370 as a key liquidation level.
Altcoins show resilience
While bitcoin struggled, altcoins performed strongly. Ether (ETH $2,929) and XRP ($1.89) rose 2.8% overnight, while privacy coins Zcash (ZEC $381) and Monero (XMR $467) gained 6% and 3%, respectively.
Metaverse tokens led gains, with Axie Infinity (AXS) up 23% and the CoinDesk Metaverse Select Index (MTVS) rising 6.9%, adding to a year-to-date rally of 34.4%. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index is down 0.52% year-to-date, while the altcoin-heavy CoinDesk 80 (CD80) is up 2.5%, highlighting relative altcoin strength.
RIVER, the token of its namesake stablecoin protocol, has surged over 2,100% in the past 30 days, including a 34% jump in the last 24 hours. The “altcoin season” indicator stands at 28/100, above last month’s 16/100 but still below September’s high of 76/100.
Since October’s $19 billion liquidation cascade, low liquidity and thin order books have amplified altcoin volatility, leading to both sharp selloffs and dramatic recoveries, as seen on Sunday.
About The Author
More Stories
Bitcoin holds near $68,300 while gold tumbles for a ninth session and Asian stocks fall
XRP slides 3% on break under $1.44 with BTC softness capping recovery
BTC mining turns unprofitable with $19,000 loss per coin despite 7.8% difficulty drop