Bitcoin climbs off one-month low while derivatives markets point to near-term pressure: Crypto Markets Today

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.