Bitcoin Holds Near $78K as Memecoins and Small Caps Lead Crypto Slide

Bitcoin remained around $78,000 after falling 2% over the past 24 hours, with 95 of the 100 assets tracked by the CoinDesk 100 index trading lower. Most of the decline occurred during overnight trading.

Bitcoin was at about $78,000, down 0.23% since midnight UTC and 2% over 24 hours, according to CoinDesk Indices data. The retreat erased Wednesday’s gains and left bitcoin 5.1% below last week’s peak of $82,284.

Ether was trading near $2,470, slightly higher since midnight but still down 1.9% over the past 24 hours. Among major cryptocurrencies, BNB suffered the steepest decline, dropping 5.1% to around $710.11.

Only five CoinDesk 100 constituents posted gains over the 24-hour period, while the broader index declined 3.7%.

The sharpest losses were concentrated among more speculative assets. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index dropped 10% in 24 hours, while the small-cap CoinDesk 80 fell 5.1%. By comparison, the CoinDesk 5, which tracks the largest assets, declined 2.3%.

Trading since midnight has been relatively subdued. While 86 of the CoinDesk 100 constituents remained in negative territory, the index was down only 0.54%, indicating that most of the selling pressure came during the overnight session.

Traditional financial markets provided little evidence of a broader risk-off move. S&P 500 futures were up 0.22%, Nasdaq futures were flat, gold gained 0.16% and the Dollar Index was unchanged. U.S. producer price inflation data for August was due later Thursday, while Friday’s Consumer Price Index report is expected to influence expectations for next week’s interest-rate decision.

Derivatives positioning turns cautious

Crypto futures sentiment has shifted bearish again after Wednesday’s brief recovery. The taker long/short volume ratio turned negative, following a pattern seen earlier in the week as rising oil prices and elevated Treasury yields continued to weigh on bitcoin.

Aggregate futures open interest declined 2% to $139 billion, even as trading volume rose 5%. The combination points to increased market churn alongside moderate capital outflows.

Bitcoin showed a different pattern. Its price declined 1.5% over 24 hours, while open interest rose slightly more than 1%, according to Velo data. The divergence can indicate that traders are adding short positions in anticipation of another decline.

Bitcoin’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta was also negative, showing that sellers were more aggressive and were using market orders rather than waiting with passive limit orders.

Open interest also fell across most major cryptocurrencies, including ether, Solana, Tron, Zcash and BNB. Their 24-hour CVD readings were negative as well, with Dogecoin and Sui showing the weakest readings among the major tokens.

Funding rates, however, continued to lean toward bullish positioning. Annualized rates for most major cryptocurrencies remained moderately positive at roughly 5%, indicating that perpetual futures were trading at a premium to spot indexes and that longs were still paying to maintain positions. Litecoin and Shiba Inu were exceptions, with negative funding rates.

Bitcoin and ether’s 30-day implied volatility measures have climbed above their respective 50-day and 100-day averages, but the increases have remained contained. The lack of a sharp rise in implied volatility suggests traders are not yet pricing in a major volatility spike despite the upcoming U.S. PPI and CPI reports.

Options activity was tilted toward downside protection. On Deribit, the most actively traded bitcoin option was the $70,000 put expiring Sept. 18, followed by the $76,000 put expiring Sept. 11. Put options give holders protection against declines in the underlying asset.

For ether, the $2,400 put expiring Sept. 11 was the most actively traded contract.

Raydium leads while privacy tokens diverge

Solana-based decentralized exchange token Raydium (RAY) remained the strongest performer in the CoinDesk 100 for a second consecutive day. RAY gained 8.5% since midnight UTC and was up 3.6% over 24 hours.

Privacy-focused tokens moved in different directions. Monero rose 2.1% over 24 hours to $513.73 after underperforming Wednesday, while Zcash dropped 2.36% and Dash declined 3.23%.

Venice Token gained 6.5% since midnight to trade around $24.20, but remained 12% lower over 24 hours after surrendering part of Wednesday’s record-setting advance.

Lighter (LIT), the token associated with the perpetuals exchange, dropped 15% over 24 hours to $4.44. It recorded the second-largest decline in the CoinDesk 100 behind Fartcoin.

Curve DAO (CRV) was the biggest daily loser, falling 5.7% to approximately $0.34 and losing 8% over 24 hours. Starknet, Monad and IOTA each declined about 5% since midnight UTC.

Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index stood at 38 out of 100. The reading has improved from the Sept. 1 low of 23 but remains below the Sept. 8 peak of 51.

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