Bitcoin Holds Near $111K as Altcoins Lead Market Momentum

Bitcoin Flat at $111K as Altcoins Stretch Their Lead

Roughly $250 million in derivatives positions were wiped out in the past day, even though price volatility stayed relatively subdued.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade in a narrow band near $111,000, marking a 2.9% decline over the past month. Its market dominance has slipped from 61% to 57%, underscoring growing momentum in altcoins.

Ethereum (ETH) has gained 1.1% since midnight UTC and is up 21% over 30 days, while Solana (SOL) added 0.43% overnight and is up 27.5% on the month. The CoinDesk 20 Index advanced 0.46% intraday and 1.7% on the day, with all members posting gains.

Nick Forster, founder of Derive.xyz, said ETH has a 44% probability of reaching $6,000 by end-2025 as institutional demand accelerates. “ETF holdings of ETH jumped by 250,000 last week, from 6.5 million to 6.74 million,” Forster noted.

Derivatives Market Positioning

• Open interest across perpetual contracts has climbed to $114 billion, according to Laevitas.
• Binance liquidation data shows BTC trapped between a $90M cluster at $112,200 and a $76.6M cluster at $110,000.
• Deribit options activity remains elevated, with 26.4K contracts traded in 24h. Calls made up 51.6% of flows, led by a $108K put (Sept. 26 expiry) and a $114K call (same expiry).
• Funding rates are broadly positive across assets, signaling bullish bias, except for TRX, which carries a -10.2% APR.

Altcoins Press Ahead

Bitcoin’s dominance has fallen to 58%, down from above 61% a month ago, reflecting a clear shift in trader positioning.

• BTC: down 2.9% in 30 days.
• ETH: up 21% in 30 days.
• SOL: up 27.5% in 30 days.

The divergence has been driven by corporate treasuries adding altcoins and a wider market recalibration after BTC’s surge to $124,000 last month. In past cycles, BTC’s dominance has fallen as low as 39%, suggesting altcoins could have more room to run. Analysts also highlight several tokens as technically oversold versus BTC, raising the odds of continued relative strength in the sector.

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