Bitcoin briefly climbed to $84,000 before retreating, while broader altcoin markets remained under pressure as traders awaited the latest U.S. inflation figures.
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading near $83,450 during the European morning after touching $84,000 at 08:00 UTC. The move followed a recovery from Tuesday’s low of $80,970.
Altcoins failed to match Bitcoin’s performance. The CoinDesk 80 index declined 0.6% since midnight UTC, while the CoinDesk 20 gained 0.2%. Nearly two-thirds of the tokens included in the CoinDesk 100 traded lower. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index also weakened to 55 from 60 a week earlier.
Market sentiment improved slightly overnight after New York Fed President John Williams said he did not see a need for interest-rate increases in 2027, although he indicated that another hike could still be possible this year.
Attention has now shifted to the U.S. consumer price index (CPI), the final inflation report before the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 28 policy decision. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect annual inflation to accelerate to 3.6% from 3.4%, CNBC reported. AAA data showed gasoline prices averaging $4.34 per gallon, compared with $3.08 a year earlier.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, while Brent crude traded near $106 per barrel.
Derivatives positioning
Crypto futures activity has slowed, with 24-hour trading volume falling 26% to $156.79 billion. Aggregate open interest declined 2.27% to $140 billion, while liquidations plunged by more than 80% to $136.32 million. The decline in forced liquidations suggests a calmer market with less leveraged exposure. However, the long-short taker volume ratio remains tilted toward sellers, with short-side trades accounting for 52% of activity.
Bitcoin and Ether traders are reducing exposure. Open interest in BTC and ETH fell 3.5% and 2.7%, respectively, alongside largely flat or negative price movements over the past 24 hours. Because open interest measured in dollar terms has also declined, the data suggests traders are closing positions rather than simply seeing their values fall with prices. Such reductions are common before major economic announcements.
Zcash (ZEC) is among the few major tokens attracting fresh positioning. Its open interest rose more than 4% as its spot price gained 1%. Since open interest is measured in dollars, the faster increase suggests that new contracts worth roughly 3% were added beyond the effect of the price rise, indicating net capital inflows. ZEC’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) is positive, while annualized perpetual funding rates are close to 10%. This points to aggressive buying, with long-position holders paying to maintain their exposure. Canton Network’s CC token shows a similar pattern.
Leverage also appears to be shifting toward altcoins. Over the past month, open interest in Bitcoin and several other major cryptocurrencies has declined, while tokens such as NEAR and Wormhole have recorded substantial increases. The divergence suggests speculative traders are seeking assets with greater sensitivity to market movements.
Cumulative volume delta offers another view of buying and selling pressure. BTC and TRX recorded the strongest readings over the past 24 hours, while UNI, SUI and NEAR showed the most negative values among major tokens. NEAR is particularly notable because rising open interest alongside heavy net selling could indicate that traders are building bearish positions.
Bitcoin’s implied volatility is also climbing. Its 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has recovered to 40%, above its 50-day and 100-day averages. Rising implied volatility can signal increased demand for protection against market uncertainty. Ether’s implied volatility index has also edged higher.
Options activity suggests Bitcoin traders are seeking downside protection. The most active BTC options over the past 24 hours include puts with strike prices of $60,000, $78,000 and $75,000. For Ether, calls at $3,400 and $2,600 led activity, alongside a put option at $2,300.
Token movements
Optimism (OP) declined 4.2% since midnight after reaching its highest level since mid-May on Tuesday. The earlier rally followed Uniswap’s Unichain completing its testnet migration to OP Enterprise on Oct. 13. Its mainnet migration is scheduled for Oct. 29, with Optimism set to operate Unichain’s production infrastructure, including its sequencer.
Decentralized finance tokens were among the weakest performers. The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DFX) fell 1.8% during the period. Liquid staking token Lido (LDO) lost 2.9%, Jito (JTO) dropped 2.8%, and Uniswap (UNI) declined 2.5%.
Several tokens that posted strong gains last week also moved lower. Starknet (STRK) fell 4.5% since midnight, Kaia (KAIA) dropped 3.8%, and Celestia (TIA) declined 3.7%. Celestia had reached its highest level of 2026 at approximately $0.63 on Saturday.
On the upside, KITE, a token associated with AI-agent payments, led gains with a 5.3% increase. Oracle token Pyth (PYTH) rose 4.5%, while Venice (VVV), a token linked to a privacy-focused AI platform, advanced 2.4%. Zcash (ZEC) gained a further 1.7%.
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