Bitcoin Holds Near $81,700 as Altcoins Recover and PEPE Jumps 13%

Bitcoin gained 0.5% to trade near $81,700 since midnight UTC, while altcoins outperformed the largest cryptocurrency. The CoinDesk 80 index advanced 1.4%, and memecoins climbed 2.9%.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose 0.5% to approximately $81,700, while Ether (ETH) added 0.9% to reach around $2,401. The CoinDesk 80 (CD80) altcoin index increased 0.7%, and the memecoin index advanced 2.9%.

The recovery came after Thursday’s technology-driven sell-off, which pushed the Nasdaq Composite down 2.6%, marking its sharpest daily decline since June. Asian markets showed mixed but generally stabilizing performance, with South Korea’s Kospi rising 0.3% and China’s CSI 300 gaining 1.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.25%.

Market participants are now watching the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27–28 meeting. Brent crude trading near $113 continues to fuel inflation concerns, while exchange-traded fund activity remains another key focus. According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635 million in outflows on Thursday, reversing some of the momentum after attracting more than $1 billion during the first three days of the week.

Derivatives Market Positioning

Crypto futures activity slows: Futures trading volume declined 19% over 24 hours, while liquidations dropped 23% after both metrics surged the previous day. Open interest increased 1% following an earlier decline, suggesting traders are beginning to establish new positions again as Bitcoin’s price remains relatively stable. The long-short taker volume ratio showed a slight bearish tilt, with short-side activity at 51.6% versus 48.4% on the long side.

Cumulative volume delta points to a reset: Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures whether market orders are predominantly buying or selling, moved closer to neutral across most tokens. Nearly all assets were within 0.05% of zero on Friday, compared with negative readings for most tokens the previous day. XAUT was the main exception, recording a reading near -0.25%.

Bitcoin and Ether see modest position building: Futures open interest for both BTC and ETH increased by approximately 1%, despite little movement in their prices. This suggests traders are gradually adding exposure. Liquidations fell sharply, dropping by roughly two-thirds for Bitcoin and one-third for Ether. Bitcoin’s funding rate rose to 0.0067% from 0.0041%, indicating that long traders are paying more to maintain positions, while Ether’s funding rate remained unchanged.

BNB and SUI funding turns positive: BNB and SUI funding rates were negative the previous day at -0.0048% and -0.0036%, respectively, meaning short traders were paying long traders. Both rates have now moved into positive territory, alongside DOGE, as prices for all three tokens increased. Long traders are once again paying to hold leveraged positions.

Position exits continue for mZEC, SOL, XRP and DOGE: Open interest declined across all four assets by more than their price movements alone would explain, suggesting traders are actively closing positions. ZEC recorded the steepest decline, with open interest falling 8% as its price dropped 1.5%. The continued reduction marks a second consecutive day of substantial exits, indicating capital is leaving the market.

Commodity futures attract additional positions: Open interest in gold, silver and crude oil futures increased for a second consecutive day. Gold and silver prices declined despite positive funding rates, indicating that long traders are paying to maintain their positions. Crude oil futures saw open interest rise alongside a 1.4% price gain, while negative funding suggests short traders are paying longs. Gold-backed token XAUT showed a different pattern, with the most negative open-interest-adjusted CVD among tokens, pointing to stronger market selling.

Monero funding cools: XMR previously recorded one of the highest funding rates on the 24-hour heatmap, but the rate has since returned to more typical levels. This suggests the recent buildup in leveraged positions has eased.

Bitcoin options favor calls, while Ether activity leans toward puts: Bitcoin’s most actively traded options included the Nov. 27 $98,000 call and the Dec. 25 $88,000 call. Five of the six most-traded contracts were calls with strike prices above the current market price. The only put among them was a $76,000 contract expiring Oct. 30.

Ether options showed a different pattern, with puts occupying the top two positions. The most active contract was the Oct. 26 $2,200 put, with approximately 9,000 contracts traded. However, trading volume alone does not reveal whether these contracts were bought or sold.

Ether shows stronger demand for downside protection: Ether’s one-week 25-delta put-call skew stood near 13%, indicating that put options were considerably more expensive than calls. The reading has risen since early October. Bitcoin’s comparable skew fell to around 4%, down from a mid-month peak near 14%. The divergence suggests concern about downside risks has eased for Bitcoin but increased for Ether, consistent with the stronger put activity in ETH options.

Token Market Update

Pepe leads the recovery: Pepe (PEPE) climbed 14%, recording the strongest gain in the CD100 and its largest advance in a month. The Ethereum-based memecoin extended its weekly increase to 23% and its monthly gain to 16%, despite no clear catalyst behind the move.

The rally distinguished PEPE from other major memecoins. Floki (FLOKI), Bonk (BONK) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) gained between 3.3% and 4.9% on the day, although they remained down by as much as 16% over the month. Pepe’s 24-hour trading volume reached approximately $353 million, about 10% higher than the previous day’s level at the same time.

Polkadot and Cosmos extend weekly gains: Layer-1 tokens Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM) each rose more than 5%, pushing their weekly advances above 6%. Their monthly performance remained mixed, however, with DOT down 2.5% in October while ATOM gained 3.6%.

DeFi tokens rebound: Decentralized finance tokens recovered after suffering some of Thursday’s largest declines. Uniswap (UNI) advanced 3.5% to approximately $7.25, while Ethena (ENA) rose 2% to around $0.20.

Monthly laggards also recover: Some of the CD100’s weakest performers over the past month posted gains. DoubleZero (2Z) increased 2.5%, and Monad (MON) rose 4.3%. Despite the rebound, the tokens remained down 49% and 31%, respectively, over the month.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator climbed to 58 out of 100, up from Monday’s low of 54. The increase reflects improving sentiment across altcoins as Bitcoin continues to trade within a relatively narrow range.

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